Alpine team principal Flavio Briatore slams media for pressuring Franco Colapinto
Flavio Briatore is currently heading operations at Alpine in Formula 1. The team is in bad form since the start of the season. Alpine are regularly beat by their rivals in the midfield. To top it off, they had to replace their starting driver Jack Doohan. Doohan was subbed out in favor of Franco Colapinto for five races.
However, Colapinto has not proved any better than his predecessor. In his four races for the team, Colapinto is yet to score points. Franco Colapinto was able to turn heads last year with clutch performance for Williams F1. In 2025, he hasn’t shown the same excellence with the Alpine. Now that he is preparing for his last race in the team, the media has become rather aggressive towards him. Briatore has come forward in defence of the Argentine driver.
Flavio Briatore is known for his strong comments. The Alpine principal came forward to rebuke the media strongly after the Canadian Grand Prix. Until the previous weekends, Colapinto was rather fast in Canada. He was able to start from P10 and finished the race in P13.
Briatore confirms that the team was very happy with his recent performance. There was no reason to raise alarm over Colapinto. They have worked in order to replace components and give him a better edge in the races.
In his interview, Briatore said–
“I don’t think there are any rumours. The team is fine with Franco and that’s it, Franco is part of the team, I don’t know what rumours they are talking about. The problem is that the press publishes a lot of rubbish. It’s your fault, not ours.”
“You are the ones who put up so much bullsh*t, that Franco this and Franco that; it’s up to you. In fact, if you go on like this, it’s not good for Franco either. You have to support Franco, not pressure him, if you are professionals and want to take care of him.”
Flavio focused on supporting Franco Colapinto and asked the media to give him time. The statements issued by the Alpine team principal spell good news for Franco Colapinto. It seems like his 5 race contract for 2025 may get extended if he improves his results in Austria.
