According to one journalist, Flavio Briatore wanted Alpine to move on from Franco Colapinto before the 2026 season even began.
Colapinto started the year as Alpine’s reserve driver but stepped into Jack Doohan’s seat after six races. Despite the team’s struggles, his teammate Pierre Gasly still managed to score 15 points between rounds seven and 24.
Alpine were still at the back of the grid in F1, having shifted focus away from their 2025 car development in order to prioritise preparations for the upcoming regulations. Even so, Pierre Gasly managed to put up 15 points over that same stretch.
Flavio Briatore wanted Alpine to sign Paul Aron last year
Alpine confirmed in November that Colapinto would remain with the team for another season, even though he hadn’t impressed. According to journalist Jorge Peiro, the agreement had already been made at the Mexico City Grand Prix a couple of weeks before the announcement.
Still, Peiro has since shared that Briatore was pushing for ownership to back Paul Aron instead. In the end, Briatore didn’t get his way.
There’s also belief that Colapinto’s commercial links in Latin America played a role in keeping his seat. The team even debuted a special livery in Miami and Montreal tied to their deal with Argentine company Mercado Libre.
Aron made three FP1 appearances for Alpine last year, including one in Mexico, and finished third in the 2024 F2 championship behind Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar. But it wasn’t enough to sway the decision.
Flavio Briatore: ‘I’ve always had faith in Franco Colapinto’
Colapinto had his best F1 outing yet in Miami, making it into the top-10 shootout during qualifying and finishing seventh in the race. That result was helped by a penalty to Charles Leclerc, but it still marked a solid performance for the Alpine driver.
Despite an early clash with Lewis Hamilton, Colapinto managed to avoid significant damage and maintained his position well enough to earn points.
After the race, Briatore said he’s “believed in Franco the whole time,” suggesting he felt justified by the strong result. However, this doesn’t exactly match up with Peiro’s account of how things unfolded.
Colapinto will need more weekends like that if he wants to put some distance between himself and questions about his place at Alpine. So far, Pierre Gasly has been clearly ahead through the opening rounds of the season.
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