Alpine driver Franco Colapinto suffered an incident during a Pirelli tire test at the Hungaroring this 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 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 circuit 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 replacement has been constant, with names like Doohan, reserve driver Paul Aron, and even Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, being mentioned to take his place before the end of the season.
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 right-hand turn taken at high speed (142 mph) with not much escape space 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 aims to evaluate the 2026 Pirelli tires, which are slightly narrower than the current ones and are part of a major regulatory overhaul for next season.
Alpine was on track for both days, with Aron at the wheel on Tuesday for the Pirelli test, while Colapinto and Gasly shared Wednesday. The tire tests were carried out with this year’s car, although 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 on straights.
The aim of the test is 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 boss, said they obtained a lot of information from the session despite Colapinto’s accident.
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 in no way related to the tires. As for the construction, we have verified our final solutions with regard to homologation, before the regulations come into force 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.
