Franco Colapinto finished ninth in the Italian GP, but a feeling of disappointment prevailed afterwards. The Argentine was briefly on podium pace after the restart, but lost control of his Alpine in the Lesmo corners and dropped back to sixteenth place. Colapinto then fought his way back impressively to P9, but could not shake off the missed opportunity. He did not hold back in front of the South American press.
The young Alpine driver started from seventh place and moved up a position after the incident between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. After Leclerc’s crash, Colapinto even came through in fifth, after which he also overtook Oscar Piastri. The red flag then caused a restart, where Colapinto was allowed to start from fourth place. He immediately launched an attack on Max Verstappen and passed the Red Bull driver in the first chicane.
Great sadness
However, the Dutchman immediately struck back. A few meters later it painfully became clear that Colapinto was no match for the four-time world champion. He braked too late in the Lesmo corner and went straight on. In the end, he still managed to salvage a points finish, but that did not lessen the sadness over the missed opportunity. “I had a great chance and I didn’t seize it, so I am sad, really sad,” said an emotional Colapinto to the Argentine branch of ESPN. “One big mistake ruined what could otherwise have been a great race.”
“I wasted a very important chance, both for the team and for myself,” he said critically. “It’s hard to learn anything from this. I’m just frustrated. I think I did a number of good things,” reflected the Argentine, “but in corners five and six I lost control of the car out of nowhere. I think Pierre Gasly and I could have done something really nice, P2 and P3 or something like that. You feel so strong; suddenly you’re fighting with the top teams, which is very motivating. But then you throw it all away with such a mistake. I still don’t fully understand what happened. We don’t often get the chance to fight at the front, which makes such a moment even more frustrating,” Colapinto sobbed. “I think we should have scored more points, so my apologies to the team, and hopefully we do better in Madrid.”
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Colapinto can’t hold back tears and breaks down after the race 🥺💔
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) September 6, 2026
CHEER UP, FRANCO, YOU WILL COME BACK STRONGER 💪#ItaliaDAZNF1 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/XT4XmEm6l2
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