Franco Colapinto will start from the pit lane at Silverstone

The weekends follow one another and are all the same at Alpine. Having crashed out in Q1 at Silverstone, Franco Colapinto was able to leave the gravel trap but was forced to stop a few meters further on, ending his qualifying. Unable to improve on his time, he could only watch his name slip down the order to last place.

This accident seemed to complete a catastrophic weekend for Alpine, who nevertheless claimed to be competing in his “home Grand Prix”. Then, Pierre Gasly managed to get the best out of his A525, even reaching Q3, which made the regrets even more bitter for Colapinto. “I struggled to find grip at the start, the track was a bit wet and I just lost the car on that kerb unfortunately.”, he recalled to the F1 microphone.

This Sunday morning, Alpine announced that his driver would start from the pit lane, due to changes to components on his engine. As a reminder, any modification under Parc Ferme regime necessarily implies a start from the pits. Twentieth on the grid, Colapinto must have decided that it was the lesser of two evils and that this new engine would be useful to him in the future.

Specifically, the Argentinian has added a fifth internal combustion engine to its range, along with the turbo, the MGU-H, and the MGU-K. It will also be equipped with a third component for energy storage and control electronics. Alpine did not do things by halves.

A decisive race for Colapinto's future?

This mistake comes at the wrong time for the Argentinian. Announced to return for five Grands Prix at Imola, Colapinto is contesting his sixth race with Alpine, without any guarantees for the future. At least, no public guarantees, especially since rumors of potential replacements are flying. At the microphone of the F1, he acted as if nothing had happened. "As a team, we're trying to improve the situation first and foremost. I'm struggling a bit with the car, but we'll try to improve things for tomorrow."

Rain has been pouring down on the Silverstone circuit since this morning, and it's not exactly pleasing Colapinto. During his last race outing in these conditions, late last year in Brazil, the Argentinian distinguished himself by a violent crash under the safety car. This afternoon, he'll have to dodge the rain to save his seat.

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