Colapinto lost control at the Hungaroring’s high-speed Turn 11, slamming into the barriers during the second day of Pirelli’s post-race testing programme.
The car suffered heavy damage, but the Argentine driver was assessed at the circuit medical centre and declared uninjured.
“During Day 2 of Pirelli Tyre Testing at the Hungaroring this morning, Franco Colapinto had an incident at Turn 11,” Alpine said in a statement. “Franco was assessed on site at the medical centre and is OK.”
While the crash occurred during a session dedicated to trialling the narrower tyres that will accompany F1’s sweeping regulation overhaul in 2026, Pirelli’s motorsport boss Mario Isola made clear the incident was not tyre-related.
“These have been two useful days for making progress with the development of our compounds for next season, given that we are now entering the home straight,” he said.
“The Hungaroring is a demanding track due to its many slow curves and the amount of energy that goes into the tyres on a lap that is rather short.
Buy tickets
“This makes it a challenging place to test tyres, in particular for the compounds that will be central to the 2026 range – which will go from C1 to C6 like this year.
“We have collected a lot of data, although it was a pity that we lost some of our potential mileage today when Colapinto went off the track, even though this was not in any way linked to the tyres.”
Isola added that useful data had been gathered on the compounds’ construction ahead of further testing later this season.
“As for construction, we have verified our final solutions as far as homologation is concerned, ahead of the regulations coming on September 1,” he explained.
“By contrast we now have three further test sessions – in Monza, Mugello and Mexico City – to conclude the development of the compounds, whose homologation is due on December 15.”
Pirelli’s revised 2026 tyres will be 25 millimetres narrower at the front and 30 millimetres at the rear compared to the current generation. Four teams – Alpine, McLaren, Ferrari and Racing Bulls – took part in the two-day test in Hungary.
Colapinto had been sharing the driving duties with Pierre Gasly, but his off early on Wednesday cut short his contribution.
Discussion about this post