©Alpine
Franco Colapinto admits life at Alpine has been anything but smooth sailing under the uncompromising management of Flavio Briatore, but the French outfit’s rookie insists the Italian has also toughened him up for the battles ahead.
The 22-year-old Argentine was plucked from Williams’ reserve bench last winter, parachuted into Alpine’s F1 seat after Jack Doohan faltered, and handed a baptism of fire at Imola.
Results haven’t come easy in a car Alpine has already written off in favor of its 2026 project, and Briatore hasn’t spared the public criticism – even questioning if he promoted Colapinto too soon.
But the young Argentine isn’t rattled. Instead of wilting under the criticism, Colapinto is doubling down, embracing the challenge with grit and gratitude.
"I have a very good relationship with Flavio," Colapinto said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, recorded ahead of last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
"He's hard with everyone and his way of making the team work and motivating the people - it's sometimes a bit hard and sometimes it can feel, you know, a little bit too much if you don't know him.
"But he's someone I really believe in and someone that I believe is going to move this team forward. He's going to help the team back to the top, so I learned a lot from him this year.
"He made me a lot stronger mentally. I'm very grateful for the opportunity of course he gave me but also for all his process you know that we are going through."
Colapinto’s performances have yet to trouble the scorers, while teammate Pierre Gasly has scraped together just 20 points, leaving Alpine rock-bottom of the championship. Still, the rookie is determined not to let results cloud his belief.
"If you look at the results and you will be like: 'Oof, it's going to be hard for Alpine to get out of that.' But I definitely feel that we are not giving up," he said.
Despite a costly crash in qualifying in Baku and more struggles on race day, Colapinto has shown flashes of promise – outqualifying Gasly three times in the last four races and even sneaking into Q2 in Hungary.
But with reserve driver Paul Aron waiting in the wings, every session counts.
The bigger question looms over Alpine’s 2026 reboot with Mercedes power units – and whether Colapinto will still be around to see it.
Briatore has publicly stated that Alpine’s second seat will be assigned next season to either Colapinto or Aron. The former, though, is trying to stay firmly grounded.
"I don't know, and I'm not really focused too much on that," he admitted. "I think I want to keep building on this year. There is more to learn and I have much more to find.
"I'm feeling better in the car and in the team. Of course, it's no secret that the car is not where we want to be and it's not good enough at the moment to win points.
"The time will come when it is, and I want to be ready for that. That's the main focus at the moment, to go race-by-race and moment-by-moment and see where we end up."
For now, Colapinto’s survival in Formula 1 may hinge on his ability to turn Briatore’s fire into fuel — and prove he’s more than just a stopgap rookie.
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