Overview
- Making his first Suzuka start on Friday, the Alpine driver placed 16th in FP1 and 17th in FP2 as stewards issued a warning for impeding Max Verstappen while he was weaving to warm his tyres.
- His deficit grew from 1.695 seconds off the FP1 leader to 2.305 seconds in FP2, and the gap to teammate Pierre Gasly widened from 0.383 to 0.704 seconds.
- Colapinto reported radio faults and right‑shoulder discomfort and said confidence is still lacking in high‑speed sections that define Suzuka.
- Alpine logged 52 laps for Colapinto and 54 for Gasly on the hard‑to‑soft C1–C3 range, with George Russell fastest in FP1 for Mercedes and Oscar Piastri topping FP2 for McLaren.
- Calling it a complicated day with useful learning, Colapinto said the team will chase balance fixes in FP3 before early‑Saturday qualifying.