Formula 1 is a sport that thrives on talent, but above all on visions. And when we talk about visions we cannot fail to mention a historic figure in the paddock like Flavio Briatore. Recalled to the Alpine management to "awaken" a dormant team, the Italian entrepreneur got to work immediatelyFirst Doohan then Colpinto but what plans does Briatore have for Alpine in F1?
Doohan and Colapinto: With great promises comes great expectations
Shortly after the signing of Doohan , as a regular driver alpine, the news also arrives that he saw Colapinto as a reserve driver. This managerial move by Flavio Briatore has raised many doubts about his intentions to keep the Australian with him for the entire championship.
Doohan, son of an artist and already orbiting around the Alpine universe for some time, represented a concrete bet for the team. But for his part, Colapinto, an Argentine with a heavy foot and visible talent, showed flashes of a true pilot. After all, Briatore is known for always knowing how to choose his men: Alonso, Schumacher, Trulli… So the two young drivers have also been invested with great expectations by the Team Principal and the fans. Plan A, which saw Doohan as a starter, failed very quickly, so they moved on to plan B, Colapinto, but he too is not making a great contribution to the team…
The missing point
Six months into the 2025 season, the Alpine project continues to look more like a series of disjointed reactions than an organic strategy. The results on the track confirm this: the A525 single-seater regularly struggles outside the points zone, often even overtaken by teams with smaller budgets such as Haas or Stake-Sauber.
Last in the standings, with 11 points, Alpine can currently only rely on the contribution of Pierre Gasly, given that neither Doohan nor Colapinto managed to bring a point to the team. Inevitably we begin to wonder whether Briatore is aware of what he is doing, or whether his maneuvers are just economic ones. First the Australian, then the Argentine, but there is currently no third option in the Alpine nursery, and if the season were to end just as it began, it would be painful for the Team Principal.
What would Alpine need to make the leap in quality?
First Doohan then Colapinto but what does Briatore need to make Alpine make the leap in quality in F1? The problem is not only related to the availability of places on the grid, which are objectively few. The point is the perception of a failure to make strategic investment on the youth and the coherence of the entire team. Up until now, jumping from one driver to another without investing consistently in a single pair of drivers has not borne fruit. At the moment Briatore does not seem to want to replace Colapinto, also and above all for the amount of sponsors that the Argentine brings to the team.
As for the last GP disputed, the Canadian Grand Prix, Franco Colapinto seemed to have shown signs of recovery during qualifying, finishing tenth, scoring the best result since he became the regular driver. A position that was however lost during the race Sunday, which ended in thirteenth place for the Argentine. This weekend also ends without points for Colapinto, and for Aòpine, who could not even count on the efficiency of his teammate Gasley.
If from now on the whole team starts to seriously invest in the growth and development of Colapinto as a driver, then they might start to see some more points… otherwise our fantasy managers should be very careful about leaving Colapinto in their lineups.
