Colapinto's performance at the Mexican GP: "Stroll doesn't look in the mirrors" and why he didn't overtake Gasly this time.

The Mexican Grand Prix , the 20th round of the Formula 1 season, has passed. Franco Colapinto 's 14th race as an Alpine driver has passed. And although the cold result wasn't good for either the team or the Argentine, who started 20th and was the last to cross the finish line, one lap behind the winner Lando Norris and in 16th place, due to the retirements of Carlos Sainz , Fernando Alonso , Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson ; a deeper analysis once again left positive feelings. Because looking at the internal "fight" with Pierre Gasly , which in the long run could weigh heavily in deciding his continuity in the French team for 2026, there is one number that brought a smile to Franco's face: the 296 hundredths that separated him from the Frenchman, 15th, after completing a very fast final stint on soft tires. The 296 hundredths of a second would almost certainly have vanished if it weren't for the blue flags and the Virtual Safety Car that appeared when the Argentine was close to overtaking his teammate.

“If it weren't for the neutralization, would you have passed him?” Colapinto was asked in the mixed zone at the Hermanos Rodríguez Racetrack. And he didn't hesitate: “Definitely. Definitely. If I had been within three-tenths of a second…”

That was the feeling that lingered in the air when the checkered flag fell. Colapinto, at the finish, was much faster than Gasly. And that, for the Argentine, was the only positive aspect of a long and very difficult race, in which he risked a different tire strategy than the rest, which severely limited him.

Franco started from the back of the grid on hard tires, a choice that went against Pirelli 's recommendations, which advised starting a race with medium or soft tires, planning for a one-stop race. And with that compound—which only he and Alex Albon, his former Williams teammate, chose for the start—he completed almost 50 laps of pure suffering.

Stroll left him without a track and Colapinto spun because he stepped on the grass lpm pic.twitter.com/Kb8nMokzPs

— Tino (@TinoCLeclerc) October 26, 2025

At the start, the Argentinean had a touch with Lance Stroll , which didn't cause any major consequences. "He knocked me into the grass. He never checks his mirrors; they must not be pointing right," said the Pilar native, who spun but was able to return to the race without any problems. He then managed to save his tires as best he could in that first stint that seemed endless, and in which, except for a few rivals who pitted, he failed to make any progress.

“We pushed the hard tire to the limit. We wanted to see how far it would last,” he joked later. More seriously, he commented: “I did 50 laps crawling, with no grip at all. We had no rhythm on that tire; it was very hard, lacked grip, and spun a lot. We were very slow, and Pierre ( who switched from medium to soft on lap 35 ) caught me again very quickly.”

Everything changed for the Pilar native when he stopped, got rid of those hard tires, and returned to the track with soft ones. He then quickly began to close the gap on the Frenchman. The 20 seconds separating the Alpines when Franco returned from the pits had shrunk to six by lap 63 and less than one by lap 68. But when Colapinto launched himself into an attempt to overtake, he was first waved under the blue flag to prevent him from impeding Bearman, who was defending Piastri's fourth place. Then, on the penultimate lap, Sainz's Williams stalled at Turn 16 and the Virtual Safety Car appeared. The race restarted with half a lap remaining, but the Argentinean missed the gap and finished behind his teammate.

“In the final stint, on the soft tyres, I was very fast, very fast, that's the only thing to take away from it. But it was already too late,” he acknowledged. “It was a race without much pace. As a team, we struggled a lot. We'll definitely learn from this. And let's work for the next one. The good thing is that things can't get any worse. Hopefully, we'll improve a little,” he commented.

This is how close Franco finished to Gasly 😬 #MexicoGP 🇲🇽 | #Colapinto pic.twitter.com/OnUmT6wcTB

— Attention Colapinto (@atencionfc) October 26, 2025

And looking ahead to the next race, which will be in Sao Paulo, excitement spread across his face: "Brazil is my home Grand Prix. There will be a lot of Argentinians there, and I'm really looking forward to enjoying it with all of them. I hope we do well to give them a great result."

After a very tough race for both Alpine drivers, Steve Nielsen , the team's sporting director, acknowledged the great effort made by Colapinto and Gasly in a difficult situation.

"We knew it would be a tough afternoon. All credit must go to both Pierre and Franco for giving their all in a difficult situation, where the cars were difficult to handle and there was virtually nothing to fight for on the track," the British engineer analyzed.

"Strategy-wise, we adapted mid-race and took a risk with Pierre by switching to the soft compound much earlier than optimal, after seeing other cars managing to make the tires last longer than expected. At that point, we knew Franco would last longer on the hards and that the two cars would eventually meet towards the end of the race," he explained.

He also said that in the end, unlike what had happened in Austin, the Argentine and the Frenchman had the green light to fight for position.

"With the leaders approaching under blue flags, we managed both cars equally and carefully to avoid interfering with those lapping us, while giving them the opportunity to compete for positions without taking unnecessary risks," he said.

And he concluded: "It was a tough weekend for the team. Well done to everyone on the track and at the factories for their continued efforts. We'll regroup next week before São Paulo."