Alpine executive director Flavio Briatore has cast doubt on Franco Colapinto’s future, saying his performances haven’t met expectations.
Briatore dropped the team’s original driver, Jack Doohan, six rounds into the season in order to promote Colapinto to a race seat. While Doohan failed to score a point during his stint in the car, neither has Colapinto since then.
Asked about his future plans for the seat, Briatore said he may have promoted Colapinto too hastily.
“It’s difficult, for this driver, it’s very difficult to cope with this car,” he said. “These cars are very heavy, very quick.
“For a young driver to put [them] in Formula 1, maybe it was not the [right] timing to have Franco in Formula 1. Maybe he needs another year or two to be part of Formula 1.
“I know that, in the end, what is important is the result. He tries very hard. He tries very hard with the engineers to please them in everything, but it’s not [been] what I expect from Colapinto.”
Briatore hired Colapinto after his nine-race stint for Williams last year, in which time he finished in the points twice. However all Alpine’s points over the first 14 rounds this year have been scored by Pierre Gasly.
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“Last year, he had two or three races with James [Vowles, Williams team principal] where he did very well. But maybe to be in a team with a good driver like Pierre, and always in competition with the team mate, maybe we put too much pressure on him. I think we need to consider that.
“The driver is a human being and we need to understand what’s going on in the heads of these kids. These are young kids – 19, 20, 22, 23 years old – and I think it’s our mistake to underestimate the human part of the driver. We’re always looking at the timing. Maybe I missed something in the management of the driver, Colapinto.”
Briatore added “honestly, I don’t know” what he will do with the seat in the future. However he said he was pleased with Gasly’s performance. “He’s good, he’s consistent, he’s a team player,” said Briatore. “Pierre is the base in the team for the future.”
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