Alpine will ‘deal internally’ with Colapinto team order defiance

The closing stages of Sunday’s US Grand Prix served up a spicy slice of drama when Alpine’s young gun Franco Colapinto threw caution – and team orders – to the wind, overtaking teammate Pierre Gasly in a bold move that left the French squad fuming.

Running a lonely race in 16th and 17th, both Alpines were far removed from the points when the call came from the pit wall: Colapinto was told not to attack his teammate.

But the 21-year-old rookie, unwilling to sit quietly behind a struggling Gasly, pushed back on the radio with a flash of frustration.

“Wait what?! Hold positions?! But he’s slow,” Colapinto exclaimed before lunging past Gasly into Turn 1 with a bold move that summed up his fiery determination.

Nielsen: “We will deal with it internally”

Gasly, who had pitted early for soft tyres on Lap 27, was battling fading grip when Colapinto made his move. The team’s call to freeze positions was meant to manage fuel and avoid risk as the leaders approached to lap them, but Colapinto had other priorities.

Explaining his side after the race, the Argentine rookie defended his actions:

“At the end, I had slightly fresher tyres than Pierre and saw Gabriel [Bortoleto] attacking. I wanted to keep him behind both of us,” Colapinto explained.

But Alpine’s managing director, Steve Nielsen, was clearly unhappy with Colapinto’s transgression.

“On Pierre’s side, we covered an undercut threat to box onto softs, a little earlier than we wanted, and then had a slow pitstop, which we will review and rectify,” Nielsen explained.

“Franco was able to extend his medium run to have a tyre delta towards the end of the race where he caught up to Pierre.

• United States Grand Prix - Race results

“We gave the instruction for the drivers to maintain position as we were managing fuel with both cars and the added variable of the number of laps remaining with the leaders in close proximity.

“As a team, any instruction made by the pit wall is final and today we are disappointed that this didn’t happen, so it’s something we will review and deal with internally.”

Team Orders or Racing Instincts?

While disobeying a team order is rarely a good look – especially for a young driver still trying to cement his place in Formula 1 – the logic of imposing such an order when both cars were running a country mile outside the points is questionable.

Alpine had little to gain by locking its drivers into formation.

Colapinto’s decision, though disobedient, came from a place of urgency. The rookie is fighting for his seat in 2026, with Flavio Briatore recently confirming that Alpine’s future lineup will feature either Colapinto or Paul Aron.

Given that backdrop, his desire to show aggression and racecraft was as understandable as it was risky.

Colapinto’s form has quietly improved in recent rounds – he’s out-qualified Gasly in four of the last five races – but Alpine’s lack of development has kept both drivers stranded at the back.

The French outfit sits at the foot of the Constructors’ standings, focusing its resources on the sweeping regulation changes coming in 2026.

For now, the team insists the Austin incident will remain “an internal matter.” But as Colapinto’s fight for survival continues, his bold move on Gasly might just be remembered as both a career gamble – and a reminder that racing instincts don’t always get the radio message.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook