Colapinto warned Briatore ‘like a bomb’ with the Alpine driver ‘not safe’

Franco Colapinto may say he’s “not really concerned” about his Alpine future as he has Flavio Briatore’s “trust”, but Riccardo Patrese has warned him that it could change as quickly as a “bomb” exploding.

Last year’s super sub as he impressed the paddock during his nine-race stint with Williams, Alpine snapped up Colapinto in the off-season as one of their official reserve drivers.

‘So Franco Colapinto in this moment is not safe’

His arrival added to the pressure on debutant Jack Doohan to perform, and when he didn’t, he was booted out of the race seat to be replaced by Colapinto.

Colapinto, though, also hasn’t produced the results with the driver yet to get off the mark in six races.

What he does have on his record are two crashes, as he lost control of the car during qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and then again in qualifying at Silverstone.

After Colapinto’s latest crash, Alpine executive director Flavio Briatore was caught on camera with his head in his hands.

It’s led to speculation that Colapinto could be given his marching orders before the season is over as PlanetF1.com understands from sources close to the situation that Valtteri Bottas has had positive talks with the team with a view to a mid-season driver change.

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The team is also speaking with former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, although that’s said to be with F1 2026 in mind.

Patrese, who knows Briatore from his 1993 F1 season with Benetton which ended when the team principal told him to “seek an alternate drive”, has warned Colapinto that the Italian is a “bomb” that could go off at any moment.

“Anything can happen with Briatore,” Patrese told a betting website.

“From my point of view, Briatore is like a bomb that can explode at any minute; a Second World War bomb that you discover in some places around the world which goes off.

“With Colapinto not performing and making accidents, he can have a problem with Briatore who won’t help with a driver’s morale.

“So Colapinto in this moment is not safe.”

The Argentine driver, though, insists he is not worried as he believes he has Briatore’s backing.

“I’m not really concerned,” Colapinto told the media, including PlanetF1.com, in Austria. “He has been very supportive and he trusts in the decision he made.”

Further quizzed on his future a week later at Silverstone after his initial five-race deal expired, the driver revealed that while he is now on a race by race situation, his only focus is helping Alpine improve.

“I think every time it’s race by race, you know,” he said of his Alpine contract situation.

Pressed on whether Alpine had given his ‘goals’ to retain the seat long-term, he replied: “No.

“I think in general, we are just trying to focus on doing the best job we can. We are trying to get better as a team.

“We are, of course, on my side, pushing the most to improve the aspects that I have to improve. I’m very good in the races, I’m struggling a bit more in qualifying.

“I know that there is things to find on our side, but also I think in general as a team, we need to still do a step with the car.

“We are not quite there to score points every race, that’s what we want. And I think we need to make things better on every side as well, a part of just focusing on that.”

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