Alpine F1 rule out signing Red Bull duo as Flavio Briatore narrows shortlist

Alpine F1 advisor Flavio Briatore has confirmed the team will choose its second 2026 driver from within its own pool, ruling out a move for either Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson.

There are still three seats up for grabs on the 2026 F1 grid.

Two of them are at Mercedes, but Toto Wolff has insisted that George Russell will remain alongside Kimi Antonelli for 2026.

Mercedes are yet to announce either driver for next year, with contract negotiations still ongoing with Russell.

Alpine have yet to decide on who will be Pierre Gasly’s teammate for next year.

During the Italian Grand Prix, Alpine announced Gasly’s F1 contract extension, keeping him at the team until the end of 2027.

Franco Colapinto is the incumbent, but he’s yet to score a point since replacing Jack Doohan at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

With Red Bull set to promote Isack Hadjar alongside Max Verstappen for 2026, it could leave either Tsunoda or Lawson without a drive for next year.

Briatore has now ruled out signing a driver outside the Alpine roster, meaning it’s now guaranteed that one of Tsunoda or Lawson won’t be on the grid next year.

“It’s between Franco and Paul [Aron],” Briatore told The Race. “Paul is a very nice guy, a very quick driver as well. And I need to understand what is the best for the team, you know?”

“I mean, I don’t have any interest with anybody,” he said. “Before the people were driving me mad [by complaining] because I was managing 50% of the drivers [on the grid]. Now, I don’t manage anybody.

“I don’t care. I don’t have any interest. My only interest is to try to take in the team the best driver available and do the best job with us. It is as simple as that.

“I need another one or two races to see, but honestly today I don’t know [which one].”

Briatore unimpressed by other options

The 75-year-old seems to be unimpressed with the options outside of the Alpine stable.

Briatore pointed out that drivers like Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso stood out immediately - something that’s not the case currently in terms of drivers available.

“I don’t see any other possibility,” he said. “We see other ones, but we don’t feel it [anything special] – because the good guys go ‘boom’.

“I remember when Schumi was in Group C with Sauber, he won every race…

“GP2 was the same. [Lewis] Hamilton was bam, bam, bam, bam. Fernando was driving Formula 3000 or whatever and he was winning every race.

“I remember testing Fernando. I put Fernando in Minardi and Giancarlo [Minardi] called me and said: ‘I have never seen stuff like that’.” Now, take away Max [Verstappen]. The rest?…”