Has Franco Colapinto weathered the worst of the Alpine storm?

Flavio Briatore’s recent comments about Franco Colapinto, at first glance, appear quite harsh on the Argentine driver, but there are shoots of optimism for the 22-year-old.

With his future at Alpine and in F1 uncertain, Colapinto might have watched Flavio Briatore’s recent press conference, in which the Italian spoke at length about him, somewhat aghast.

Flavio Briatore: Maybe Franco Colapinto needed another year or two for F1

While one side of the Alpine garage is the picture of calm, as Pierre Gasly has just signed off on a contract extension to remain with the Enstone-based squad until the end of 2028, the opposite side has been the subject of plenty of speculation almost ever since Jack Doohan put pen to paper on his deal to race for the squad in the latter stages of 2024.

Almost immediately, the Australian came under pressure as Colapinto became a main player of the driver silly season, to the point where he was even briefly considered by Red Bull.

In the end, with Colapinto going through some of the growing pains typical of a rookie driver thrown in at the deep end, Red Bull lost interest and, with no way into the Williams’ driver line-up, Colapinto found refuge as Alpine’s reserve driver as Flavio Briatore liked what he saw and signed up the Argentine driver on a long-term deal.

Having someone of Colapinto’s potential, combined with the potential financial aspect of having him in a race seat as well as the length of this deal (understood to be for five years), meant it was almost inevitable that Doohan would eventually have to give up his seat to Colapinto – that was despite the Australian showing clear progress relative to Gasly across his six races as a full-time F1 driver.

It’s now been 10 race weekends since Colapinto got his chance and, on the face of it, it hasn’t yet been a successful experiment. But, with no pre-season testing and with only some TPC mileage under his belt, it’s hardly surprising Colapinto has largely struggled to find his feet, but there have been recent signs that he’s starting to get there.

Couple his struggles with a car that has lacked performance in the first place, to the point where even Gasly is struggling to put in competitive drives, and Colapinto has had a very difficult return to F1.

Bear in mind that, while he did have a few races last year, he is a rookie thrown into a car without the benefit of proper pre-season preparation, all while he’s had to try impressing a notoriously difficult-to-impress boss, in the face of expectation created entirely off the back of Colapinto’s surprisingly strong start to life in F1 with Williams last year.

It’s to Colapinto’s credit that he hasn’t completely crumbled under the weight of the expectation his own initial success created, and while there have been some mistakes and high-profile crashes (such as compromising a Pirelli tyre test in Hungary last month), recent races have seen Colapinto much more comparable to Gasly’s pace, both in terms of single-lap and race pace.

At a time when Colapinto’s confidence may be starting to turn around, Briatore’s appearance in the FIA press conference at Zandvoort might not have been particularly conducive to continuing on that upward curve, as, on paper, the Italian’s answers pertaining to Colapinto and his performance this year aren’t hugely confidence-inspiring.

“I think I see everything already,” he said of Colapinto, when asked what he needs to see from his young charge in order to hang onto his seat for next year.

“I don’t need to see anything anymore. It’s difficult. For this driver, it’s very difficult to cope with this car. These cars are very, very heavy, very quick.

“For a young driver to put in Formula 1, maybe it was not the timing to have Franco in Formula 1. Maybe he needs another year or two to be part of Formula 1.

“I know that, in the end, what is important is the result. He tries very hard. He tries very hard with the engineers to please them in everything, but it’s not what I expect from Colapinto.”

It doesn’t make for pretty reading, but some broader context should be kept in mind. Not only is Briatore speaking in a secondary language, but he is also known for being blunt and matter-of-fact.

The no-nonsense former team boss also has proven in the past to have no problems dropping a driver when he feels like it – think about his decision to fire Jarno Trulli in late 2004, despite the Italian being a race winner and a point ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso after the first 15 races of the season.

If Briatore really wanted rid of Colapinto already, it’s quite likely it would have already happened.

It’s inarguable that Colapinto hasn’t delivered at the level that may have been expected of him, and Briatore suggesting that he has would merely do the young driver a disservice.

Without being unnecessarily cruel, Briatore has outlined how he sees Colapinto after 10 race weekends – there’s nothing dishonest or disingenuous about saying that Colapinto hasn’t yet met expectations and that it’s maybe been too much, too soon. Like in any job, criticism doesn’t necessarily mean a boss is actively seeking to drop an employee, and Briatore’s ‘criticism’ has been more matter-of-fact than outright negative towards his driver.

The weight of expectation is perhaps what has been Colapinto’s biggest hurdle to overcome so far in F1. When he arrived with Williams last year, replacing the browbeaten Logan Sargeant, there was no expectation or hype around the Argentine. His early points finishes, his sudden emergence as a linked name to empty seats with big teams… it created a wave of expectation that Colapinto clearly didn’t initially respond well to, but has been fighting diligently to bounce back from ever since.

“Last year, he had two or three races with James [Vowles], where he did very well,” Briatore acknowledged.

“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.

“Sometimes we believe… the driver is a human being and we need to understand what’s going on in the heads of these kids. These are young kids  – 19, 20, 22, 23 years old – and I think it’s our 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.”

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What is Alpine likely to do for F1 2026?

It’s a critical time for Colapinto right now, given that, if he can make it into 2026, the complete reset of the regulations and a full pre-season testing schedule would mean he’s not playing catch-up on a more experienced teammate when it comes to simply figuring out the driving characteristics of his Alpine.

Right now, all the indications are that, rather than simply ripping Colapinto out of his seat and trying all over again with another inexperienced rookie before year-end, Briatore is going to lean into trying to unleash Colapinto’s inherent potential and give him every opportunity he can to get to grips with the car and start performing at a level closer to Gasly – a driver around whom the team has pinned its hopes for the coming years.

This patience may yet be rewarded, based on the clear signs of improvement Colapinto has shown recently, with Briatore telling Sky F1, ​​“For the moment, I believe Franco is doing a good job.

“He paid a bit for [his] inexperience in the beginning, like a lot of the rookies, a lot of young drivers.”

In an interview with Le Figaro this week, Briatore said, ‘The team needs stability, and the ability to keep the same two drivers is part of stability.

“So far, we haven’t decided yet, but normally, stability means that we keep them both. The most important thing is to make a good car.”

What’s evident from seeing Colapinto, week-in, week-out, in the media pen, usually quite down in himself, is that he is noticeably brighter in recent weeks. The optimism radiates from him in a way that clearly wasn’t there earlier in the summer and, in Italy, he spoke about his confidence increasing as he is now returning to tracks he’s driven last year.

“I feel, these last few races that I know the track and I know how everything is, it’s gonna bring me more confidence,” he said.

“It’s gonna give me a bit more of a feeling of getting to it a little bit quicker. That is what is taking me a bit longer with this car to understand what I need and to make it comfortable to drive. It’s very unpredictable.

“I think these last few races, from Budapest basically, we’ve made a step in the right direction for me.

“I’m feeling better. I’m feeling more confident. I’m feeling that the car is a bit more stuck to the round, and it’s what I needed.

“It’s still a bit unpredictable, and it’s still quite sharp at times, but there are some weaknesses of the car that we know are there.

“We’ve really made good progress with my engineers, and that’s a good direction. I think I will get that tenth that I’m missing sometimes, you know, at these tracks that I know – I know how everything is, how a weekend is, how the race pace is, how is the tarmac and the tyres.

“So I’m more confident for these last eight races.”

Barring an absolutely disastrous run of races in which Colapinto is actively proving to be a costly hindrance or is clearly performing way below the level of the car, the 22-year-old is set to see out the rest of this season, although the door remains ajar for a possible replacement in the final two to three races to allow Alpine a chance to evaluate another youngster – Paul Aron being the leading candidate, if a change is desired.

It’s worth remembering that the closeness of the F1 field at present does skew the picture somewhat, making it even more difficult for a driver like Colapinto to stand out. Even a mere two-tenths of a second can mean a significant positional offset nowadays, while, in yesteryear, two-tenths may have simply been the gap to the car immediately behind.

Vowles made a point of highlighting this during the press conference with Briatore, offering some defence for his former driver in front of Briatore, while also posting positive sentiments towards Colapinto on social media –  this could be interpreted as a discreet message of support towards the potential Colapinto clearly has, and that Briatore should keep the faith.

Crucially, it’s a message Briatore appears to be listening to.

Colapinto is facing some pressure and scrutiny, but it can’t be said to be particularly negative or excessive in its expectations. With the stability of his recent performances acknowledged by Briatore in Italy, the signs are there that Colapinto is emerging from the depths of what has been a very difficult proper arrival in Formula 1.

Will he manage to do enough to convince Briatore and new managing director Steve Nielsen that giving him the chance to be with the team right from the start of the new regulation cycle in F1 2026 is the right thing to do?

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