🇪🇸 SPANISH GP 2026 RACE REPORT

Franco delivers his best weekend of the year with P7 on Madring's debut

Published

18 Sep 2026

Est. reading time

3 min

FRANCO SCORES 6 POINTS WITH A SOLID RACE ON THE MADRING'S DEBUT

Franco qualified P9, held the position with a great start and fought back to P7 on the debut of the new Madrid circuit, delivering what his team described as his best weekend of the year in terms of execution.

Circuit: Madring Date: 13 September 2026 Laps: 57

Race results

🥇 P1 Kimi Antonelli - 1:34:23.754 🥈 P2 Max Verstappen - 1:34:28.105 🥉 P3 Lando Norris - 1:34:28.843 🇦🇷 P7 Franco Colapinto - 6 points 🇫🇷 P12 Pierre Gasly

Franco's highlights

Qualified P9 on Saturday, with the team calling it some of his best laps of the year

Great start that took him straight from P9 to P7 on the opening lap

Moved up to P6 when HAM got stuck in a corner, before Lawson took the place back

Took advantage of the Virtual Safety Car following STR's retirement to make his stop and switch to hards

Defended hard from LIN and then PIA, while closing in on BOR

Passed BOR in the closing laps and pulled away from PIA to secure P7

Race technical data

Qualifying: P9 (1:32.903)

Final result: P7

Fastest lap: 1:37.321 (lap 52, on hard tyres)

Tyres: mediums at the start → hards from lap 14 (stop under VSC)

How the race unfolded

Franco made a brilliant start, gaining two places on the opening lap to move from P9 to P7. Shortly after, a problem for HAM in a corner moved him up to P6, though he couldn't hold the position for long: LAW took the place back and Franco stayed glued to his Red Bull, ready to defend.

The race changed on lap 20 when STR came to a stop on track and the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. The team took the opportunity to call him into the pits and switch to hard tyres, which left him in P10 upon rejoining, but with a strategy that would prove key for the rest of the race.

In the second stint, Franco had to defend hard against LIN's attempts. As the laps went by, he began closing in on BOR, whose tyres were struggling, while PIA - who had lost time following front wing damage - quickly passed LIN and set his sights on Franco.

With PIA pressuring from behind, Franco didn't give up: he held the position while continuing to close the gap to BOR, whom he finally managed to pass in the closing laps. In the final laps, he also managed to stretch his advantage over PIA to cross the line in P7, scoring 6 points and being Alpine's sole scorer on the day, as well as finishing ahead of several direct rivals in the fight for the Constructors' Championship.

What Franco said:

"I'm very happy with today's result, with P7 and scoring six points for the team, especially as this track layout probably doesn't suit the strengths of our package too well. I had a very good start again today and managed the tyres well, so I kept the position. The VSC came and we did our stop to save time, like others around us did. The second stint lasted until the end of the race, so it was very long and took a lot of defending throughout. I caught up to Gabriel [Bortoleto] but lost a lot of time, even if it probably wouldn't have meant finishing in a higher position. I'm pleased to score points today and to be ahead of our direct competitors as we continue to close the gap in the Championship. It's probably my best race weekend in terms of execution this year, I maximised everything in Qualifying and did what I had to do today."

What Flavio Briatore said about Franco:

"Franco did a brilliant job all weekend and scored six valuable points for the team."

Next race: Saturday 26 September, 15:00 🇦🇿 / 8:00 🇦🇷, at the Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan.

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