Overview
- The Argentine is on site in Melbourne to start practice at Albert Park, with live coverage in Argentina on Fox Sports, Disney+ and F1 TV and sessions running March 5–8 local dates.
- Colapinto completed his first full pre‑season with Alpine, logging more than 350 laps and roughly 2,500 km across Barcelona and Bahrain plus intensive simulator work, and says he is eager to get underway.
- Alpine has switched from Renault to Mercedes engines and gearbox; reporting notes the team did not run full power in testing and expects the complete configuration to appear during the Australia weekend.
- Teammate Pierre Gasly cautions that nobody will be fully ready under the 2026 rules, which introduce Aero Active, smaller cars, greater electrical energy use, an overtake mode in place of DRS and a Boost button.
- National angles include Colapinto’s Argentina‑themed 2026 helmet and compatriots Nicolás Varrone (F2) and Mattia Colnaghi (F3) racing in Melbourne alongside the F1 event.