Renault launches ‘fake’ Franco Colapinto collection after ‘don’t go bankrupt’ warning

Fans of Franco Colapinto in Argentina have a new option to source their merchandise supporting their favourite driver.

Last year, the then-Williams driver made comments that official merchandise could “bankrupt” F1 fans in his home country.

Franco Colapinto ‘fake’ clothing and merchandise range is launched

Since his arrival in F1 last year, the Argentine driver has created a groundswell of support in his native country.

But, for fans of Colapinto, the high costs of official merchandising saw him urge them to only purchase fake knock-off merchandise to ensure they don’t land themselves in financial trouble.

“The only thing I hope is that they don’t go bankrupt buying F1 merchandise,” Colapinto said in an interview with Corazon F1.

“Williams sets a price that not even Cristiano Ronaldo can buy.

“Then the Argentines go crazy and make them out of stock.

“They leave them without stock, and then we’re eating rice for two months, dude. Buy the fake stuff, the cheap ones.”

Attempting to address this, having switched teams after joining Alpine this year, the F1 team’s parent company, Renault, has launched a ‘Fake Collection’ of original merchandise in Argentina.

The driver himself shared the promotional video for the launch on his own social media, with the ‘Originals Fake Collection’ a space “created especially for you, Franco Colapinto fans.”

The royalty-free collection of logos, photos, illustrations, and stickers has been released to allow fans to download and create their own merchandise, with Colapinto being an official ambassador for Renault Esprit Alpine in Argentina.

The ‘Original Fake Collection’ leans heavily on the use of the Renault logo, but it’s understood this is not related to rumours that have suggested the Alpine F1 team could be renamed back to the name of its parent company after five seasons racing under the name of its boutique brand.

The rumours of a team rebrand are understood to be wide of the mark, with no name change in the works, as new CEO Francois Provost has taken over the reins to succeed the departed Luca de Meo.

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The prominence of the Renault imagery is therefore more likely to be due to the far greater visibility of the French manufacturer’s brand in South America. Just 51 Alpine roadcars were sold outside of Europe and Japan last year, and the Alpine brand is currently not officially sold in Argentina.

However, due to the ‘Colapinto effect’, Argentine media have reported that the president of Renault Argentina, Pablo Sibilla, has revealed it is “seriously encouraging” to bring the Alpine brand to the country although, in effect, this would be unlikely to represent large-volume sales.

The launch of the collection further underscores that a split between Colapinto and Alpine is unlikely any time soon, with rumours before the F1 summer break that the young driver, who has had a tough return to F1 after missing the first quarter of the year due to having been initially signed as Alpine’s reserve, could be dropped from the team’s driver line-up.

It’s understood that Colapinto’s position is fully secure for the second half of the season, although there remains a small possibility of a change being made in the final two to three races of the season if his form proves problematic to the point of being untenable ahead of the F1 2026 season.

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