Franco Colapinto escapes injury after Hungaroring crash during testing, declared fit by Alpine

Franco Colapinto crashed his Alpine A5323 mule car at the 2026 Pirelli test around the Hungaroring. This raised doubts over the Argentine racer's health status, as the Alpine revealed that he is doing fine and has been released by the medical centre at the track.

Franco Colapinto declared fit

Earlier this season, Colapinto replaced Jack Doohan but did not manage to do well with the Alpine A525, quite similar to his predecessor. Initially, the 22-year old had only five race weekends to cement his place in the Enstone hierarchy, which created pressure on him.

Later, there was no pressure of being axed after he was retained by the team after a disappointing Austrian Grand Prix. He then tried to do well in the following races and reduce his tendency to cost the side money from the cost cap due to damages.

But his testing session brought to an abrupt end as the 22-year-old crashed the newly modified Alpine A523 exiting turn 11, with the car sustaining substantial damage.

Colapinto was assessed at the medical centre immediately at the track and was fine after the crash, as the team issued a statement:

"During Day 2 of Pirelli Tyre Testing at the Hungaroring this morning, Franco Colapinto had an incident at Turn 11. Franco was assessed on site at the medical centre and is OK."

Meanwhile, the recently concluded Hungarian GP marked the first weekend where Colapinto outqualified Pierre Gasly in the 2025 season.

Franco Colapinto reacts on disappointing Hungarian GP

Franco Colapinto began the race two spots up the road ahead of Pierre Gasly at the Hungarian GP, as he was the only Alpine race to make it into Q2. He then expected to have a respectable drive around Hungaroring, but was halted by the A525's pace at the 14-turn circuit.

The Argentine racer reacted on how he had more confidence in the car as he finished ahead of Gasly at the Chequered flag, but criticised the car's performance mid-way during the race that led him finish 18th, as he stated in a post-race interview:

"I think we have taken a good step forward with the car, which has given me confidence... The initial start and getaway was good, but from there we fell back on the first lap and lost places. I was struggling with rear grip and sliding, which came back to us later in the race."

"We opted for a two-stop and unfortunately, we encountered issues on both which meant we were held longer than we expected. As a team, we've been very good recently with pitstops, but these things happen in racing."

Currently, Colapinto sits at 20th in the drivers' standings, lowest among all the active drivers on the grid.