Alpine Formula 1 driver Franco Colapinto crashed heavily at Hungaroring’s Turn 11 during the second day of Pirelli 2026 F1 tyre test.
As the motorsport world looks towards the sweeping 2026 F1 regulations, the tyre test in Hungary had been especially crucial for teams and drivers—aiming to familiarize themselves with Pirelli’s innovative, narrower compounds designed to accommodate new chassis concepts and technical frameworks.
On the morning of August 6, 2025, Franco Colapinto took the wheel of Alpine’s specially modified A525, a mule car adapted for the narrower front and rear tyres stipulated for 2026, as part of Pirelli’s multi-day development program at the Budapest circuit.
This session followed the F1 Hungarian GP weekend with the burgeoning Argentine talent stepping in to share testing duties with his teammate Pierre Gasly, after reserve driver Paul Aron logged significant mileage on Tuesday.
At the time of the crash the track was also seeing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc participating with a similarly modified mule car, while McLaren and Racing Bulls had concluded their contributions on the previous day.
The Pirelli 2026 F1 tyre test itself was a vital opportunity to evaluate prototype C3, C4, and C5 compounds, as well as constructions that require official homologation by September 1 in line with the revised regulations.
The compounds being scrutinized during the session are intended to foster closer racing and suit the dramatically altered aerodynamics and load profiles expected from the new generation of Formula 1 machinery.
Colapinto’s session, however, took an unfortunate turn at the formidable Turn 11—an ultra-fast right-hander taken at speeds close to 220km/h.
According to reports from Alpine and corroborated by multiple outlets, Colapinto lost control of the car at this critical juncture resulting in a heavy impact that brought his morning program to an abrupt conclusion.
Thankfully, after being swiftly extricated from the wreckage, Colapinto was assessed on site by the circuit medical team and subsequently cleared with Alpine confirming in an official statement that their driver was “okay,” despite the significant damage sustained by the chassis.
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For Alpine, Franco Colapinto crash was a procedural disruption as well as a setback in a critical development window.
The team’s day of active running with the 2026-spec tyre compounds was effectively curtailed, necessitating a rapid review of their data collection strategy for the remainder of the test.
Pirelli too faced a temporary interruption to their planned evaluation of tyre wear, degradation, and feedback from new compounds under race-representative loads and simulated settings.
Colapinto’s A525 was visibly damaged, setting the stage for extensive overnight repair work and potentially putting Alpine on the back foot relative to other teams in this specific area of technical feedback.
The crash is all the more notable considering Colapinto’s current form after replacing Jack Doohan from the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix earlier this season. The 22-year-old Argentinian has been keen to prove his place in Formula 1’s fiercely competitive environment.
However, after seven Grands Prix he is yet to score a point—his best finishes being 13th at both Monaco and Canada, while his more experienced teammate Pierre Gasly has accumulated a respectable 13 points in the same time frame.
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