Briatore acknowledges disappointment with Colapinto

Alpine team principal Flavio Briatore has heaped pressure on Franco Colapinto by admitting the Alpine driver’s performances and results are not what he expected.

Alpine opted to promote Colapinto from his role of reserve driver after just six rounds of the current season, replacing Jack Doohan after the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May. The 22-year-old Argentine has yet to score a point in seven starts so far – having picked up five in nine races for Williams last year – and Briatore (pictured above with Colapinto) now questions whether he needed more time developing before getting another race seat.

“I think I see everything already,” Briatore said. “I don’t think I need to see anything anymore.

“It’s very difficult for these drivers to cope with this car. These cars are very, very heavy, very, very quick. For a young driver to put in Formula 1… Maybe it was not the time to have Franco in Formula 1, maybe he needed another one year to be part of Formula 1.

“I’m not happy. What is important is the results. He tries very hard, and we try very hard with the engineers to please him with everything, but really it is not what I expected from Colapinto.”

Despite those comments, when pushed on his plans for the second seat at Alpine through the rest of this season and into 2026 alongside Pierre Gasly, Briatore suggested he could have been at fault for the way he’s handled the rookie.

“[Alpine has made] not so many changes," he said. "We changed Doohan with Colapinto. And maybe Colapinto [had] too much pressure to be in Formula 1. Last year, he had two or three races with [Williams], where he did very well. But maybe to be in the team with a good driver like Pierre, and always in competition with the teammate, maybe we put too much pressure on him.

“I think we need to consider that. The driver is a human being and we need to understand exactly what’s going on in the heads of these kids. Because these are young kids – 19, 20, 22, 23 – and I think it’s a mistake to underestimate the human part of the driver.

“We’re always looking at the timing. Maybe I missed something in the management of the driver, Colapinto. For the future, honestly, I don’t know.”