Franco Colapinto left Miami with a career-best seventh place, a standing ovation from the Alpine garage, and a warm set of words from the man who famously told him on Drive to Survive: “You are the problem.” Flavio Briatore has now revised that assessment — publicly, warmly, and with a challenge attached. Colapinto’s Miami weekend was the best of his Formula 1 career by most measures, enabled by a substantial upgrade package that transformed the A526 and gave the 22-year-old Argentine the tool he needed to show what he could do. Briatore’s response was not to celebrate. It was to raise the bar.

A Weekend Executed Session by Session

Colapinto qualified eighth for both the sprint and the main grand prix — outpacing team-mate Pierre Gasly on both occasions, despite not having access to the new rear wing, of which only one example was available for the Miami weekend. In the sprint, he lost two places at Turn 2 while wisely backing off when sandwiched between Verstappen and Hamilton, finishing tenth behind Gasly. In the grand prix, he capitalised on the chaos of Verstappen’s spin on the opening lap, built a sufficient gap over the chase from Albon and Sainz on a long first stint, and crossed the line eighth — before being promoted to seventh by a post-race penalty for Charles Leclerc.

The final classification gave Colapinto his best Formula 1 result since his eighth place at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with Williams — his second ever race. It also made him the highest-finishing Argentine driver in a Formula 1 grand prix since Carlos Reutemann finished second at the 1982 South African Grand Prix, some 795 world championship races earlier.

“I think since I got to F1 it’s been my most perfect weekend. I am very happy with the weekend — it’s been executed really well. I think we maximised every session and we scored strong points. So it’s been a weekend for all of us to be very proud of, and we will try to get better in Canada.”

— Franco Colapinto, Alpine

The Upgrade That Changed Everything

Colapinto was clear that the performance swing was primarily hardware-driven. Alpine arrived in Florida with the most comprehensive upgrade package the team has fielded in years — a reflection of five intensive weeks of factory work during the April break that followed the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix. The centrepiece was a new, lighter monocoque.

“The team did a very big effort to bring new parts for the cars, bring upgrades, new chassis. It’s been very hectic in the factory in this break, but very useful. When you have the pace, suddenly everything becomes much easier and not being on the back foot. It’s been much better this weekend and felt very strong.”

— Franco Colapinto, Alpine

Notably, the impact was felt even without the new rear wing — suggesting the chassis and aerodynamic changes were genuinely significant rather than incremental. Colapinto’s ability to outqualify Gasly in both events, running the older wing against his team-mate’s newer specification, underscored the scale of his personal improvement in qualifying performance — an area that had been a well-documented weakness in 2025.

Briatore: “This Is What We Expect Every Race Weekend”

Alpine’s executive advisor left no ambiguity about how the team intends to receive this result. Briatore acknowledged the performance warmly — and then immediately placed it in a context designed to prevent Colapinto from treating Miami as a peak rather than a baseline.

“Franco has rounded off a really good week where he has performed at the level we expect him to be at every race weekend. The car is competitive and it is these performances we need week in, week out from both drivers and the entire team for us to meet our objectives.”

— Flavio Briatore, Alpine Executive Advisor

Briatore added that Colapinto and Gasly had a strong internal dynamic — “the relationship between these two is super” — while also noting that there were items on Gasly’s car to review before Canada, following the Frenchman’s early retirement from the grand prix after a rollover crash. For now, Alpine sits fifth in the constructors’ championship with 23 points from four rounds — already more than the 22 points the team accumulated across the entirety of 2025.

The Hamilton Incident — and Its Aftermath

The weekend was not without controversy. On lap one of the grand prix, Colapinto’s car stepped out mid-corner at Turn 11 as Hamilton attempted to pass around the outside, resulting in contact that left both cars with damage. Hamilton’s fury was visible — untelevised footage confirmed he gave Colapinto the finger as he drove past — but the stewards reviewed the incident and took no action, noting that Hamilton was not sufficiently alongside to be entitled to racing room under the driver guidelines. Both drivers carried damaged cars to the finish. Hamilton was classified sixth; Colapinto seventh.

For Colapinto, the incident was a footnote to what he described as his finest weekend in the sport. The momentum now points towards Canada. Briatore has made the expectation explicit. Colapinto, for his part, says he feels no differently in the car — the hardware did the talking. The question for the next run of races is whether Alpine’s upgrade holds up against a field that will also continue to develop, and whether Colapinto can repeat Miami when the environment is less favourable.