While enjoying his last few days in his homeland, the 22-year-old continued his return to fitness by training on a road in the neighbouring country of Uruguay. He posted a clip on social media last week of him running topless on the asphalt while his coach and friend, Lucas Benamo, recorded him.
It was strikingly clear that Colapinto was sporting significantly greater upper body mass and more defined muscles. The footage stunned many F1 fans, who were left surprised by his physical evolution over the past month or so.
Colapinto’s post also included several other photos from his time in Argentina and Uruguay. He captioned it: “Happy to have visited and travelled around this country before returning to Europe. See you soon.”
The promising driver will soon return to Alpine’s headquarters in Enstone, Oxfordshire, before the team’s private testing gets underway in late January and February. It marks his third season on the F1 paddock, having initially come through the Williams Driver Academy and replaced Logan Sargeant as a team driver midway through the 2024 season.
After finishing his debut season 19th in the standings with five points, he joined Alpine as a test and reserve driver on a multi-year deal in 2025. Jack Doohan was demoted to reserve driver following the Miami Grand Prix last year, leading Colapinto to debut for the team at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
He crashed in qualifying and took a one-place grid penalty, meaning he started and finished the race in 16th. His best result of the season for the struggling F1 outfit was an 11th place finish in the Netherlands, which meant he ended the season with zero points.
Despite that, he still has the support of Alpine’s managing director Steve Nielsen, who recently said: “Franco is a young driver. We’ve seen other young drivers go through good and difficult periods – he’s on that journey. There were races earlier in the year when he was a match for Pierre and on a couple of occasions maybe even faster than Pierre in the races.
“He’s on that journey, and we’ll give him all the support he needs to be as quick as he can be, whether that’s faster than Pierre or close to Pierre.”