The Argentine driver explained that Alpine found positive signs during long runs in Melbourne and believes the race performance could be more competitive than what was shown over a single lap.
The 2026 Formula 1 season began in Melbourne with a challenging scenario for Alpine, but within the team there is a more optimistic reading when analyzing the full data from the weekend. Franco Colapinto explained that the car’s performance could be more competitive in race conditions than in qualifying, a difference the driver attributes to the behavior of the car during long runs.
During the first sessions at the Albert Park circuit, the French team found itself far from the benchmark lap times in qualifying simulations. However, when analyzing the data obtained in race simulations, the picture changed significantly. According to Colapinto, the car shows more consistent performance when running with higher fuel loads and maintaining a steady pace over several laps.
The Argentine pointed out that this contrast between qualifying and race pace had already been detected during preseason. In the tests carried out before the start of the championship, Alpine dedicated a large part of its program to evaluating the behavior of the car in long runs, with the objective of better understanding tire management and the car’s stability under real race conditions.
Colapinto was clear in describing that performance difference. “Our race pace is better,” he emphasized while analyzing the data collected during the weekend in Australia. The phrase summarizes the way the team interprets its current position on the grid.
For Alpine, the start of the championship is interpreted as a phase of technical diagnosis in a context marked by completely new regulations. The 2026 single-seaters incorporate major changes in aerodynamics, electric power distribution and energy management, factors that force teams to reinterpret many of the solutions used in previous seasons.
The Enstone-based team believes that the car’s behavior in race conditions could become a key tool to gain positions. On street circuits like Albert Park, where overtaking is not always easy, maintaining a consistent pace and preserving the tires can be decisive in building a competitive strategy.
Colapinto also highlighted that his preparation for this season is different from previous years. The Argentine driver arrives at the championship after completing his first full preseason as a full-time driver for the team, an experience he considers fundamental to better understand how the car and the technical environment of Formula 1 work.
That additional knowledge allows him to work with greater precision alongside the engineers on the car’s setup and in interpreting the data collected during each session. According to the driver himself, eliminating uncertainties at this early stage of the championship helps focus the work on concrete improvements.
The Australian Grand Prix also represents the first major test for Alpine within the category’s new technical cycle. The team is looking to consolidate a development base that will allow it to evolve the car throughout the championship.
In that context, Colapinto insists that the team’s true potential will be seen in the race. If the sustained pace is confirmed during Sunday’s laps, Alpine could find an opportunity to move up the order even starting from the middle or lower part of the grid.
With the championship just beginning, the performance in Melbourne will offer the first clues about the project’s real competitiveness and about the team’s ability to turn that optimism into concrete results on track.