Franco Colapinto 'finds feet' as major decision brings Alpine reward

Franco Colapinto feels Alpine's decision to bring a new chassis for him to the Miami Grand Prix was a key factor in landing the best result by an Argentine driver in 44 years.

Ahead of the weekend, as part of its raft of upgrades, Team Enstone handed Colapinto a new A526 chassis, which he used to qualify in the top 10 for both the Sprint and grand prix, finishing 10th in the shorter race. 

For the first time since the 2025 Singapore GP, Colapinto out-qualified Gasly for a grand prix, and then raced well to finish eighth on the road and equal the best result of his career, coming for Williams at the 2024 Azerbaijan GP.

However, owing to Charles Leclerc's 20-second time penalty, Colapinto was then promoted to seventh in the final results, the best an Argentine has managed in a grand prix since Carlos Reutemann finished second at the 1982 South African GP - 795 world championship races ago. 

Reflecting on his second points score of the season, after 10th in China, for the resurgent Alpine team, which has now scored 23 points in four races compared to 22 in the entire 2025 season, Colapinto pointed to the new chassis as a key part of his weekend.

"It has been my most perfect weekend," Colapinto reflected to media, including RacingNews365. 

"I am very happy with the weekend, it's been executed really well, and we scored strong points, so it has been a weekend to be very proud of.

"The team has made a very big effort to bring parts for the car, upgrades and a new chassis. It has been very hectic in the factory during the break, but also very useful. 

"I was very proud to put that performance in and show the speed of the car. I'm very grateful [to the team], and the new chassis which came has been very helpful, and I think that really helped me to find my feet a bit better and find more pace.

"When you have the pace, suddenly everything becomes much easier, and you're not on the back foot."