Franco Colapinto Suffers Accident in Pirelli Tests
Alpine driver Franco Colapinto suffered an incident during a Pirelli tire test at the Hungaroring circuit on Wednesday. The accident occurred at turn 11 of the circuit.
After the incident, Colapinto was attended to at the circuit’s medical center. Alpine confirmed that the Argentinian driver was doing well.
Colapinto, loaned to Alpine by Williams, replaced Jack Doohan earlier this year, but has struggled to achieve good results alongside teammate Pierre Gasly, failing to score points.Franco Colapinto has struggled in his time at Alpine.Speculation about his possible departure from the team and his replacement by Doohan, reserve driver Paul Aron, or even Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes’ reserve driver, has been constant.
Colapinto’s accident at the Hungaroring occurred after a race weekend at the same circuit, where he managed to qualify and finish ahead of Gasly.
Curve 11 is a high-speed right-hand turn with not much run-off beyond the curb. Alpine did not offer details on how the accident occurred.
Colapinto was selected by Alpine after his nine races with Williams in the second half of the 2024 season, where he scored five points.
The two-day test at the Hungaroring is taking place to evaluate the 2026 Pirelli tires, which are slightly narrower than the current ones and are part of a broader revision of the regulations for next season.
Alpine was on track for both days, with Aron at the wheel on Tuesday for the Pirelli test and Colapinto and Gasly scheduled to share on Wednesday. Tire tests were being carried out in this year’s car, while Alpine also had a 2023 car present at the test for Colapinto and Gasly.
After McLaren and Racing Bulls participated in Tuesday’s tests, Ferrari was on track on Wednesday with a modified version of this year’s SF-25, designed to replicate the performance of a 2026 car in corners and on straights.
The test aims to conduct a final evaluation of the construction of the tires for 2026, which must be approved and homologated before September 1st.
Work on the compounds for next season will continue for six more days of testing at the end of the year before they are approved on December 15.
We have collected a lot of data, although it was a shame that we lost some of our potential mileage today when Colapinto went off track, although this was not related in any way to the tires.
Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport boss
Isola stated that, despite Colapinto’s accident, they obtained a lot of valuable information from the session.
Regarding construction, we have verified our final solutions with respect to homologation, before the regulations come into effect on September 1st. Conversely, we now have three more test sessions (in Monza, Mugello, and Mexico City) to conclude the development of the compounds, whose homologation expires on December 15th.
