Flavio Briatore offers rare praise for Franco Colapinto as he fights to keep Alpine F1 seat

Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore has praised Franco Colapinto for being “much more consistent” as he fights to keep his drive with the team for 2026.

The identity of Pierre Gasly’s teammate for 2026 is still unclear, with Alpine yet to decide.

Colapinto replaced Jack Doohan ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

However, Colapinto has struggled to deliver unlike his brief Williams stint last year.

While Alpine have often languished at the back of the field this year, Gasly has still scored 20 points for the team.

Colapinto’s form has led Briatore to question his form ahead of next year.

Alpine held talks with experienced duo Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

Neither driver wanted to move to Alpine, settling on Cadillac for next year.

If Colapinto loses his Red Bull drive, he will face competition from Doohan, Paul Aron, and potentially Yuki Tsunoda.

Briatore has praised Colapinto’s recent improvement.

​​“For the moment I believe Franco is doing a good job,” he told Sky. “He paid a bit for [his] inexperience in the beginning, like a lot of the rookies, a lot of young drivers,” Briatore said.

“Four or five races to judge” Colapinto

While Colapinto is expected to remain in the car for the rest of the season, Briatore is giving him a handful of more rounds to impress ahead of next year.

After abandoning their works engine project, Alpine will likely be more competitive in 2026.

Instead, they will run Mercedes engines.

Tsunoda could be on the market if Isack Hadjar replaces him at Red Bull.

Arvid Lindblad has been tipped to take Hadjar’s spot should the Frenchman earn promotion alongside Max Verstappen.

“Now in the last three, four races, he’s much more consistent, no mistakes, and maybe Franco, maybe we’ll see. We have another four or five races to judge, and after we’ll see,” he explained.

“Now I think Franco is in the line to be stabilising himself. He’s driving well, has very nice communication with the engineering [team]. Let’s see.”