Alpine executive consultant Flavio Briatore says he will continue to “experiment” with the team’s driver line-up as he considers their options for 2026.
But having originally given Franco Colapinto five races to prove himself, Briatore indicated he may be more generous with the deadline.
Colapinto drove for the team at Imola and Monaco after replacing Jack Doohan in their line-up. But Briatore told the official F1 channel on Friday “Monte-Carlo is not considered as a race, I consider this is the first race” for Colapinto.
“We need to wait one second [before] judging Franco,” he explained in the FIA press conference. “We’ll see this race, we need the full race.
“We did Monte Carlo. It was a very special race for everybody, we made a lot of mistakes in qualifying. And in Monte Carlo, qualifying is the race. Especially this race, Monte Carlo, it was very boring and very annoying. Let’s see, this is the first real race of Franco.”
When Alpine announced Doohan’s exit earlier this month, the team said it would reconsider its driver line-up ahead of the British Grand Prix at the beginning of July. However on Friday Briatore said the situation will remain fluid while he weighs his options for next year.
“I don’t know, honestly, I never tell: five races, three races, four races, one race. We’ll see.
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“If Colapinto is performing, he’s driving the car. If not, we’ll see: 2025 is a year [when] we need to prepare ourselves for 2026. So whatever experiment I need doing, we’re doing.
“I don’t know at this moment if Franco will stay for the season or not, but let’s see. It depends on the performance. We’re only looking at the performance, nothing else.”
Alpine has retained Doohan as a reserve driver alongside Paul Aron and Kush Maini. However rumours have also linked Mick Schumacher, who races for Alpine in the World Endurance Championship, to a drive in their F1 team.
Briatore signed his father, Michael Schumacher, in 1991 and took him to his first two drivers’ championships at Benetton. However he refused to answer questions about the younger Schumacher’s chances of returning to F1 with Alpine three years after being dropped by Haas.
“I don’t think it’s the question to ask here, now,” said Briatore during the press conference. “Next question.”
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