Overview
- Alpine formalized Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto as its 2026 race lineup, retaining Paul Aron as reserve.
- Aron voiced frustration with staying on the sidelines and argued that an Argentine driver has easier access to followers, sponsors and funding than someone from Estonia.
- Motorsport’s on-track data ranking placed Colapinto 18th overall, built from intra-team duels and cross-team extrapolation, with noted qualifying and race-pace deficits in a weakening Alpine.
- The Race’s rookie review ranked Colapinto fifth, citing a late start, no pre-season running, an inferior car, an 11–7 duel to Gasly that narrowed as form improved, and a compromised end after the Interlagos crash led to an older chassis.
- Separate end-of-year ballots named Max Verstappen the best driver of 2025 in peers’ voting and in a team-principals list, with Lando Norris again second in the drivers’ poll despite taking the title.