Franco Colapinto back on track with Alpine after team rejects sabotage claims

Franco Colapinto carried out an F1 2026 filming day with Alpine at Silverstone on Wednesday, the team has confirmed.

The outing saw Colapinto return to the cockpit for the first time since the Enstone-based team dismissed fan claims of “sabotage” in a remarkable open letter.

Franco Colapinto returns to action in Alpine F1 2026 filming day

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Alpine has enjoyed a promising start to the F1 2026 season following its switch to Mercedes engines over the winter,

Pierre Gasly scored points at each of the opening three races, recording a best finish of sixth in China, where Colapinto scored his first point as an Alpine driver by coming home in 10th place.

Colapinto struggled compared to his teammate at the last race in Japan, where he lapped eight tenths adrift of Gasly in qualifying.

The Argentine went on to finish a distant 16th as Gasly defeated the Red Bull of four-time world champion Max Verstappen to secure seventh place.

Pierre Gasly vs Franco Colapinto: Alpine head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

As reported by PlanetF1.com, Alpine took the unusual step of publishing an open letter in the aftermath of the Japanese Grand Prix.

The team condemned online abuse of Colapinto and Haas drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman following recent on-track incidents involving the trio, as well as taking the opportunity to address wild online claims that Colapinto is being denied the same opportunities as Gasly.

Alpine explained that Gasly and Colapinto have had “the same equipment” so far in F1 2026 “barring some small low-performance impacting parts in China due to switching gearbox components.”

The team added: “Franco is our driver and the team has placed its trust in him, just as he has with the team.

“That is an indication of the commitment we have to Franco and his place in the team with equal footing alongside Pierre.

“Any questions about sabotage or not giving Franco the same car are completely unfounded, which is why the team felt the need to speak out.”

Colapinto, who is set to appear appear in an Alpine roadshow event on the streets of his hometown of Buenos Aires on April 26, was back behind the wheel of the A526 earlier this week as Alpine held its second and final filming day of the F1 2026 season at Silverstone.

The team’s previous filming day was also held at the British Grand Prix venue on January 21, two days ahead of the official launch of its F1 2026 car.

In a short clip posted to social media by Alpine, Colapinto said: “We are at Silverstone. The beautiful Silverstone, one of the best tracks in the world.

“It’s damp, it’s wet, grey, as usual in the UK – you don’t see much sunshine here.

“But we have the car, so we are doing a filming day. Lots to film, lots of cameras, Go Pros, cameras everywhere [to film] content for the sponsors for the team.

“But it’s a cool filming day. We are doing it with the car. I’m driving on track. Not many laps, 200k max. It’s around 30 laps, so not much to do on track.

“But it’s still cool to get the filming day done with the actual car, to get some more knowledge and to get also the blood flowing before we go to Miami and before we go to Buenos Aires for the roadshow and a great event that we’ll have there.

“So really exciting. Let’s get through this day and then ready for Argentina. See you all there.”

Speaking after the Japanese Grand Prix, Colapinto indicated that he would take advantage of the five-week gap until the Miami Grand Prix to get to the bottom of his deficit to Gasly.

He said at Suzuka: “Now that there’s a break, we need to try and understand many things that we still don’t have an answer for and try to get better for Miami.”

Colapinto’s Silverstone outing makes Alpine the latest team known to have taken to the track with a 2026 car during F1’s extended April break.

Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls remained at Suzuka following the Japanese Grand Prix to take part in a two-day Pirelli tyre test.

Meanwhile, Mercedes and McLaren headed to the Nurburgring for a two-day test with Pirelli this week, marking the first time since 2020 that current F1 machinery has taken to the legendary German venue.

As reported by PlanetF1.com earlier this month, Ferrari is set to hold its first official filming day of the F1 2026 season at Monza next Wednesday (April 22).

Some teams, including newcomer Cadillac, already used up their two permitted filming days for 2026 prior to the start of the new season.

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