Franco Colapinto speaks out about Alpine seat loss threat

SEPANG – Franco Colapinto insists there was never any real doubt he would race for Alpine at the Bahrain Grand Prix, despite Flavio Briatore publicly considering his options after the Argentine’s costly Azerbaijan crash.

Colapinto committed the cardinal sin of motorsport last time out at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when he crashed into his teammate Pierre Gasly, with Alpine suffering a double retirement as a result.

Franco Colapinto explains Alpine decision after Azerbaijan crash

As the racing action resumed in Baku after a Safety Car period, Colapinto locked up as he braked for Turn 1.

The Argentine driver clattered into his teammate Gasly, triggering a chain reaction that also involved Lando Norris.

All three drivers, who had been racing inside the top ten, retired.

Colapinto was left to face not only the wrath of Gasly and Norris, but also Alpine’s de facto team principal, Briatore.

PlanetF1.com understood that benching Colapinto for the Bahrain Grand Prix was not off the table, with Briatore hinting at such on social media.

“I want to take time to reflect on it and consider what course of action should be taken,” he said, “so we can learn from it and avoid such a situation in future.”

Pressed on whether Colapinto could be stood down for the Sepang race, sources were unable to deny the possibility existed.

Colapinto, though, is back in the Alpine F1 car for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The 23-year-old says despite Briatore’s anger over his mistake, he trusted the Italian to do what was right for the team whatever the decision.

“There are times in the team that everyone is angry and it’s tricky to move forward,” Colapinto told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media at the Sepang circuit, “but you always find a way to find a way.

“Flavio is a great team leader. He’s really one of the best I’ve had in the sport, of course, since I started. And it’s a lot of experience, so he’s very good at these situations, knowing how to manage them and knowing how to make the team better.

“So I always trusted him in this kind of stuff.

“Of course, it’s probably not the best when you are the one in the wrong and when you made a mistake. But it’s great to have him and learn from it.

“I think it’s a difficult situation for the team. He’s the team leader, the one trying to make the team win again and make the team better.

“As soon as we made contact, I came back to the garage, took full responsibility for it.

“It’s a mistake. I looked up in Turn 1. It was a mistake with just very big consequences.

“Of course, sad for what happened. But as a team we had a lot of chats, and we learned how to move on.”

Pressed on whether there was a realistic chance of being benched, Colapinto revealed he went straight from Baku to Alpine’s factory in Enstone to begin preparing for the Sepang race.

“Not really,” he said.

“Actually, I went straight after the race to the sim. I was in the factory straight away, getting race [ready for] here in Malaysia.

“Those things never change, and our prep for the future for never really changes.

“Of course, Flavio was angry, and as everyone in the team was angry, and it’s not a nice situation to be in, and even worse to be the one creating that situation. It’s the last thing that you want.

“We were doing a very good job as teammates all that weekend with Pierre, and it’s very sad to finish it like that for a mistake.

“It’s something very unintentional that I hope everyone understands. It’s just a lock-up. When you touch the brake and you lock up, you are out of control.

“And it’s extremely unfortunate that I took Pierre, who is my teammate, and of course Lando as well, and very sorry for that. But mainly Pierre, the great situation we were in and of course makes everyone upset.

“Cannot change it now, would love to be able to change it, but I’m very sorry, that’s the reality.

“I was very sorry straight after it happened, and that it’s not again a nice situation to be in, but we fixed it internally and they’ve been supportive and willing to look forward very quickly.”

Pierre Gasly vs Franco Colapinto: Alpine F1 2026 scores

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

But it wasn’t just Briatore’s anger that Colapinto had to face; he also had to clear the air with Norris.

The McLaren driver had called for Colapinto to be handed a one-race ban, although he later backtracked on that and apologised to the Argentinian.

The Alpine driver says there are no hard feelings between the two, who have spoken about the incident and its aftermath.

“I think he was in the heat at the moment,” Colapinto said of Norris’ criticism.

“Of course, he knows what comments create because he suffered from it, or he was probably the driver that was speaking the most about hate a couple of years ago, just few seasons ago, so I was a bit surprised.

“But then, of course, he apologised, and I think unfortunately he also got a lot of hate for it. But I also had [a lot of hate].

“It’s a tricky situation with the outside world, and that’s why I think we need to keep it safe inside with the things we say. And I understand it in the heat of the moment to say things like that.”

Asked if everything was okay between himself and Norris, Colapinto replied: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, we chatted and it’s fine.”

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