🇧🇷 Franco at the São Paulo GP 2025

A weekend full of motivation at Interlagos and great news for Colapinto’s F1 future

Published

12 Nov 2025

Est. reading time

4 min

🏁 Franco Colapinto’s race in Brazil

São Paulo Grand Prix – Autódromo José Carlos Pace

📆 Date: 7–9 November 📍 Location: São Paulo, Brazil

📊 Qualifying: P18 📈 Race result: P15

🏆 Race results

🥇 P1: Lando Norris (McLaren) 🥈 P2: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 🥉 P3: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 🇫🇷 P10: Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 🇦🇷 P15: Franco Colapinto (Alpine) ❌ DNF: Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Gabriel Bortoleto

Read the full live coverage and all updates from the São Paulo GP weekend here.

Race summary

The São Paulo Grand Prix proved to be a challenging weekend for Franco Colapinto, who started from P16 after a difficult qualifying. In a weekend marked by mixed conditions, the Argentine delivered a solid race, avoiding incidents and defending with determination to finish P15.

From the start, Franco maintained a consistent rhythm, taking advantage of the retirements of BOR, HAM and LEC while managing his tyres well on a one-stop strategy. Franco was hit by Lewis at the end of the opening lap, but was really lucky to avoid serious damage.

He showed steady pace through Interlagos’ most technical sectors, completing all 71 laps with solid times and no mistakes. His fastest lap – 1:12.816 on lap 45 – stood as the best in the field for four consecutive laps, proving his excellent mid-race pace before others improved with lighter cars. It was a positive conclusion after a tough Saturday marked by a Sprint DNF.

Alpine placed both cars in the top 15 and scored points with Gasly, gaining valuable insights for the next rounds. While not the dream result for Franco, his consistency once again confirmed Alpine’s strong decision to keep him for 2026.

🩵 Keep supporting Franco- confirmed for 2026

Read all about the announcement made on the Friday before São Paulo’s sessions here .

Thank you to everyone who showed incredible support throughout the weekend. Many members of Fran Club were at Interlagos, attended the fan flag event, and kept cheering as always.

We want Franco to see it too!

Use #FranClub43 to share your photos and videos from the São Paulo GP weekend, and upload your content here.

Celebra con Franco su confirmación para el 2026 en F1 🇦🇷

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Weekend details

Free Practice:

30 laps, best time 1:11.160. Productive medium-pace runs and balance adjustments.

Sprint Qualifying:

P16- 1:10.441 (6 laps), just shy of advancing to the next qualifying phase.

Sprint:

Started P16 on used mediums. DNF on lap 5 after hitting the barrier at Turn 3, a spot where PIA and HUL also crashed moments before.

Qualifying:

Q1- 1:10.632 (P18). The car was repaired against the clock after the Sprint incident earlier that day.

🏁 Race

🚦Start:

Began P16 after penalties to other drivers. Held position through the opening laps and avoided early incidents, including a minor tap from HAM that caused no damage.

⬆️ Progress:

Gained one place through strategy and three more after retirements.

🛞 Tyres:

One-stop strategy – mediums to softs.

⚡ Fastest lap:

1:12.816 (lap 45).

The quickest lap on track for four consecutive laps, highlighting his strong pace in clean air before TSU, PIA, VER and ALB improved later on fresher tyres. A noteworthy performance within the midfield pack.

🏁 Result:

P15, consistent and with impressive defence against STR, who stayed within DRS range for several laps.

Sector and speed data

Sector 1: 18.163s / 324 km/h Sector 2: 36.261s / 265 km/h Sector 3: 16.147s Finish line: 333 km/h Speed trap: 338 km/h

👀 Incidents and Safety Car

🚨 Safety Car:

Deployed after BOR hit the barriers on lap 1. Following the restart, a Virtual Safety Car was triggered after PIA locked up and touched ANT, sending the Mercedes into LEC, who retired due to damage to his Ferrari.

❌ Retirements:

HAM (lap 37), LEC (lap 5), BOR (lap 0).

📻 Team radio

Franco received constant guidance about traffic and on-track references. In Q1, the team encouraged him to focus on race preparation. During the Sprint, communication was brief after the crash, mainly to confirm he was physically fine. In the race, radio exchange was steady, focused on tyre and pace management, with several compliments for his defensive driving.

Franco’s comments

“First of all, a huge thank you to the team for repairing my car and getting me out in time for qualifying. It was a massive effort and I’m very grateful. We were doing well in the Sprint until one of the cars ahead sprayed water and I lost control – a shame because our pace was competitive,” Franco said after Saturday in São Paulo. “In the race we stayed steady, made no mistakes and had good pace in the second stint. Now it’s time to analyse why the car felt different and find improvements for the next rounds.”