Franco Colapinto health update issued after he crashes during the mid-season testing in Hungary

At the 2026 Pirelli test around the Hungaroring, Franco Colapinto crashed his Alpine A523 mule car. This posed doubts over the Argentine's health status, as the Enstone-based outfit later revealed that the driver is doing fine and has been released by the medical center at the track.

Colapinto replaced Jack Doohan early on in the season but did not do well with the Alpine A525, much like his predecessor. Moreover, the 22-year-old initially had only five race weekends to prove himself to the Enstone hierarchy, which mounted pressure on him, under which he often crumbled.

However, the hanging sword of being axed after just five Grand Prix weekends was removed after he was retained by the team after a dismal Austrian GP. He then intended to mature over the following races and reduce his tendency to cost the team valuable money from the cost cap due to damages.

On the other hand, Pirelli held its testing for the 2026 tires at Hungaroring during the summer break. Teams brought their mule cars, and during day 2 of testing, Alpine's Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly were slated to test the tires with Charles Leclerc joining them in an altered SF-25 later in the day.

But this testing session was brought to an abrupt halt as the 22-year-old crashed the modified Alpine A523 exiting turn 11, with the car sustaining substantial damage:

Subsequently, Colapinto was assessed at the medical center at the track and was deemed fine after the crash, as the team issued a statement:

"During Day 2 of Pirelli Tyre Testing at the Hungaroring this morning, Franco Colapinto had an incident at Turn 11. Franco was assessed on site at the medical centre and is OK."

Meanwhile, the Hungarian GP marked the first weekend where Colapinto outqualified Pierre Gasly in the 2025 season.

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Franco Colapinto lamented how an early breakthrough at the Hungarian GP ended in despair

Alpine's Franco Colapinto at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary - Source: Getty

Franco Colapinto started two spots up the road ahead of Pierre Gasly at the Hungarian GP, as he was the sole Alpine driver to make it into Q2. He then hoped to have a respectable drive around Hungaroring, but was hampered by the A525's torrid pace at the 14-turn circuit.

The Argentine then reflected on how he had more confidence in the car as he finished ahead of Gasly at the chequered flag, but lamented the car's performance mid-way through the race that held him back en route to finish 18th, as he said in a post-race interview (via F1):

"I think we have taken a good step forward with the car, which has given me confidence... The initial start and getaway was good, but from there we fell back on the first lap and lost places. I was struggling with rear grip and sliding, which came back to us later in the race." "We opted for a two-stop and unfortunately, we encountered issues on both which meant we were held longer than we expected. As a team, we've been very good recently with pitstops, but these things happen in racing."

Colapinto sits 20th in the drivers' standings, lowest among all the active drivers on the grid.

Edited by Mitali