Franco Colapinto Suffers Accident in Pirelli Tire Test
Alpine driver Franco Colapinto suffered an accident during a Pirelli tire test at the Hungaroring on Wednesday. The incident occurred at Turn 11 of the circuit.
Colapinto was attended to at the circuit’s medical center after the accident. Alpine confirmed in a statement that the Argentinian driver was “fine”.
During the second day of Pirelli tire testing at the Hungaroring this morning, Franco Colapinto had an incident at Turn 11. Franco was evaluated at the medical center and is fine.
Alpine
Colapinto, who is on loan to Alpine from Williams, replaced Jack Doohan earlier this year, but has struggled to get consistent results alongside teammate Pierre Gasly, failing to score points.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 outperformed Gasly in qualifying and finished ahead of him.
The 11th turn is a high-speed right-hand turn (142 mph) with not much run-off area 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, in which 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 regulation review 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 Wednesday. The tire tests were carried out with this year’s car, while Alpine also had a 2023 car available 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 its SF-25 from this year, designed to replicate the performance of a 2026 car in corners and straights.
The test aims to conduct a final evaluation on 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.
Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport’s head, stated that they obtained a lot of data from the session despite Colapinto’s accident.
We have collected a lot of data, although it was a shame that we lost some potential mileage today when Colapinto went off track, although this was in no way related to the tires. Regarding the construction, we have verified our final solutions with respect to homologation, before the regulations come into effect on September 1st. On the contrary, we now have three more test sessions –in Monza, Mugello and Mexico City– to conclude the development of the compounds, whose homologation is scheduled for December 15th.
