Franco Colapinto Qualifies P8 for Miami Sprint After Alpine Breakthrough

franco colapinto will start the Miami Sprint from P8 after matching his best-ever qualifying result in any format. Alpine also placed Pierre Gasly in P10, putting both cars inside the top 10 for the first time this season.

Colapinto Finds Pace in Miami

Colapinto said the turnaround came after a difficult start to the weekend, when Alpine had to work through a problem with his A526 in Friday’s sole practice session. The result was a sharp response: he described the day as positive after doing clean laps on a track he knows, and said the team is finally getting into a rhythm.

“I'm happy because we turned around something that was quite tough and it took us a while to understand and I think we are finally getting in the the rhythm and understanding some of the pace that we lacked,” he said after Sprint Qualifying. He added: “Doing good laps all day on a track that I know, on a Sprint weekend which is more difficult. Just all very positive today.”

Alpine's First Top-10 Double

The result matters beyond Colapinto’s own grid spot. Alpine brought new upgrades to Miami this weekend, and this was the first time both cars reached the top 10 ahead of a Grand Prix or Sprint this season.

That matters because Alpine has only one double-points finish this year, which came in the Chinese Grand Prix. The team sits joint fifth in the Teams' standings, so a strong Saturday in Miami gives it a cleaner platform than it has had for much of the season.

Gasly Starts P10

Gasly’s side of the garage was less comfortable. He will start from P10, but said his car had a lot of wheelspin and that the problem never really got sorted out in time.

“Not really good because it has been very difficult since this morning. We've seen something is not quite working on my side and I'm having a lot of wheelspin,” he said. “Unfortunately we didn't really have enough time to get to the bottom of it but it hasn't felt good so we'll have to work hard to improve it for tomorrow because I think I'm going to struggle in the race as it stands.”

Even so, he pointed to the team result as a step forward, saying: “Still, [we] managed to get the two cars in the top 10 which is good but we just have a lot more potential to unlock.”

Colapinto’s own read was more upbeat. He said Alpine looks strong compared to the midfield cars, and that judgment now comes with a concrete starting position attached: P8, the best qualifying outcome of his career so far.