Franco Colapinto is in the spotlight heading into the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Franco Colapinto is set for an extension at Alpine (Image: Getty)

Franco Colapinto has insisted that he is taking things ‘race to race’, despite reports that confirmation of his seat for 2026 is expected imminently. The 22-year-old has endured a challenging season since replacing Jack Doohan, but is set to receive more time to prove himself at the start of the new technical regulations.

The Argentine starlet dazzled after replacing Logan Sargeant midway through the 2024 campaign, but Colapinto did not have the same impact when he was brought in to succeed Doohan ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix earlier this year.

After 13 Grand Prix starts (and a DNS at Silverstone), the Pilar-born driver remains without a point to his name this season, while team-mate Pierre Gasly has recorded three top-10 finishes during the same period. Alpine are now well adrift at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship standings.

And yet, despite the underwhelming results, Colapinto is reportedly set to drive for Alpine in 2026. The Enstone-based team even teased an announcement on Friday on their official social media channels.

Colapinto, however, brushed off the reports. “I don’t know. I’m going race by race and I’m trying to focus on this weekend,” he said in the Interlagos paddock. “It’s a weekend, a track and a place that I just enjoy very much. And to be again in Formula One racing in Brazil for me is very special. So I can’t wait to go to the track.

“I think the future doesn’t really… I don’t really look at it too much. I want to stay fully focused on this season and try to finish better. We are now doing heavy effort and we will do the same effort as well to give them some results.”

Colapinto will remain under pressure in 2026 despite the extension (Image: Getty)

While Colapinto remains without a top-10 finish to his name this season, he maintains that he is feeling more at ease in the cockpit of the A524 than ever before. The 22-year-old has been working hard behind the scenes to contribute to Alpine’s comeback plan.

“I worked a lot with the boys in the factory, with the engineers [after Imola],” he explained in Brazil. “We kind of figured out a way to make it more comfortable for me. And I think we, since then, have understood much more our limitations and where the issues were coming from.

“And to me, I’m feeling more comfortable with the car. I think race after race, I’m feeling better. As a team, we are working better as well. It’s, of course, improved, but we lost pace in the car. I think that our team threw a lot of upgrades. We lost that performance that we had.

“It feels tricky and harsh not being able to be close to the points at the moment when I feel that I’ve done big steps in terms of personal performance. We were working hard as a team to try and make it better, try to extract more pace of the car and I’m sure we’ll get there. Let’s see what we can do this year.”