Argentine race driver Franco Colapinto will take to the Formula 1 track once more this weekend, as he gears up for the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix. The race will be the fourth the 22-year-old takes part in for Alpine F1.

How has Colapinto been doing so far?

It’s been a tough return to F1 for Colapinto until now. Performances have been far from the highlights of his first stint at the series with Williams Racing, where he impressed early on showing pace, skill and capturing points for the team. The Argentine racer has spent most of his Alpine run near the back of the grid, with his best result a 13th place finish in Monaco.

After initially impressing with his early qualifying pace last time out at the Spanish Grand Prix, his weekend was ruined by a drivetrain problem later in the Q1 session. The problem saw Colapinto stuck at the front of a long queue of cars at the end of the pitlane.

Things didn’t improve much during the race, where he struggled to make many gains through the field, in what he admitted to the Alpine F1 press team was a “disappointing afternoon and a tough race,” finishing 15th.

It certainly hasn’t all been down to Colapinto. In Spain, teammate Pierre Gasly’s Alpine A525 car had numerous updates on the car, which resulted in an eighth place finish from the French driver.

Alpine Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore admitted as much after the Spanish GP, saying the team knows they’re “now where we want with the car” and that it has shown in the European triple header.

However, Briatore was not short of criticism for Colapinto, saying that while they expected him to have a tough afternoon in Barcelona, he had a “disappointing race” and was “not progressing as much as we hoped.” The former Benetton and Renault winning team principal’s comments are a big blow to Colapinto, who was one of his biggest backers to get the Alpine seat after his 2024 showings with Williams.

What can we expect from Colapinto at the Canadian GP?

F1 makes its way back to the American continent for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. The track has been a fan favorite for a long time, as it usually produces highly entertaining races with plenty of wheel-to-wheel action and overtakes. 

It’s a semi-permanent track, meaning while it wasn’t built as a race track — and it sees no racing action away from race weekends — the track isn’t constructed over regularly used streets such as Monaco or Baku.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is also an important one for teams, as its mix of low and medium speed corners make it an excellent venue to test and develop their cars. The long straight at the back of the track, which is preceded by a hard breaking point at the 180° hairpin turn, means it’s also a power track where top speed is crucial. As such, it’s a track where a lot of teams bring updates to their vehicles, looking to make performance gains to swing the scale in their favor.

It’s the only track of the five Colapinto was originally announced to race on where he hasn’t taken to the asphalt before. He’ll do well to avoid the infamous ‘Wall of Champions,’ a barrier on the outside at the final chicane‘s exit. It received the name at the 1999 race, when three Formula One World Champions — Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve — all crashed there in one weekend, and claiming several others since.

Colapinto will take to the track on Friday, June 13, at 2:30 p.m. for Free Practice 1, with the second stint coming at 6 p.m. Qualifying kicks off on Saturday at 5 p.m., with the race coming on Sunday at 3 p.m. All times are Argentina times.