Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore has conceded that the team may have mismanaged Franco Colapinto’s early Formula 1 career, admitting the young Argentine has been carrying a burden of pressure that has hindered his performances
Colapinto was parachuted into Alpine mid-season, replacing Jack Doohan after the Miami Grand Prix. But while the move was intended to spark progress, the 22-year-old has struggled to adapt to the A525, remaining point-less since his race debut with the Enstone squad.
Paired with the experienced Pierre Gasly, Colapinto faces constant scrutiny to match his teammate’s pace, a challenge that Briatore now believes may have been exacerbated by the team’s approach.
“We changed Doohan with Franco and maybe he has the same problem of too much pressure to be in Formula 1,” Briatore said on Friday at Zandvoort. “Maybe we put [too] much pressure on him.
“We need to consider sometimes that the driver is a human being and we need to sometimes understand exactly what’s going on in the head of these, because they are young; 19, 20, 22, 23... It’s our mistake sometimes to underestimate the human part of the driver.
“We’re looking always for the timing. Maybe I missed something there in the management of the driver.”
Questioning the Timing of Colapinto's Promotion
Briatore went further, suggesting Colapinto may have been rushed into F1 before he was fully ready, especially against a strong benchmark in team-mate Pierre Gasly.
“I think for a driver it's very difficult to cope with this car,” he said. “Maybe it was not the [right] timing to have Franco in Formula 1, maybe he needed another year to be part of Formula 1.
“I'm not happy if you look at the results, that's what is important. He tried very hard. We tried very hard with the engineering [team] to please him in everything but really it's not what I expect from Colapinto.”
Vowles: Pressure Makes All the Difference
Williams boss James Vowles, who gave Colapinto his debut last season, echoed the idea that expectation has been a major factor in the Argentine’s struggles.
“When the pressure is not there you're able to get a lot more out of the driver, because they're not concerned about an immediate performance having an impact,” Vowles explained.
“A good example was Franco's first time I put him in at Silverstone. He thought it was his only chance to ever get there and my message to him beforehand is: 'It has nothing to do with lap times, it is about you relaxing and enjoying the moment because this may never come back to you again'. And he did a stellar performance.”
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Vowles also pointed to the razor-thin margins in today’s field.
“The second change is that three tenths now separate the grid, so when you make a small mistake - and a small mistake is a tenth - you're last. That's a different world to where we were before, where frankly you could be a tenth off your team-mate and no one would know about it.”
With Alpine admitting mistakes in handling its rookies, the focus now shifts to whether the team will give Colapinto the breathing space he needs to grow, or whether more changes could come before the season is over.
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