(Motorsport-Total.com) – A decision about Alpine’s second cockpit for the 2027 Formula 1 season is expected soon, but according to Flavio Briatore, the question of the drivers is his least concern: “In the end, we first have to get the car under control. Ultimately, we need the car’s performance,” emphasizes the Italian in the podcast Beyond the Grid.
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Alpine has so far been one of the positive surprises of the current Formula 1 season. The distant last place finisher from last year has found its form again in 2026 and currently ranks fifth as the first pursuer of the top teams. However, this does not satisfy Briatore for long.
“We are better, but I am not satisfied with the state we are in at the moment,” he emphasizes. “Because with what we have, we should have performed much better.”
Briatore is aware that Mercedes and McLaren have the same engine as Alpine and deliver significantly better results – in the case of McLaren also as a customer team. “We are six, seven tenths behind. So we are improving, but not as much as I want,” he says. “That is the problem we have at the moment.”
First the car, then the drivers
Therefore, for him, the driver question comes second: “Sure, the driver makes a difference. If you have someone like maybe Max [Verstappen], that gives you two tenths, three tenths. But if you are seven, eight tenths behind, there is no driver who can make up that difference,” says Briatore.
“So let’s work on the car, let’s work on the pit stops, let’s work on developing a much, much better aerodynamics for our car. And then we talk about the drivers.”
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“The driver is for me the last part, the very last puzzle piece. If you have to spend financial effort, then you have to spend it where you have the chance to win,” he says.
But Briatore will have to put someone in the car in 2027. There are no question marks about Pierre Gasly: The Frenchman is still tied to Alpine until 2028, and Briatore is very satisfied with his protégé’s performances. “I believe Pierre is among the six best drivers,” praises the team’s “Executive Advisor.”
“Pierre is, if you will, a very underrated driver. And if you take the top group – don’t ask me for names, because I will never tell you – but in this top group, Pierre belongs to the top 6 for me.”
Significant improvement from Colapinto
And Colapinto? “With Colapinto, we have to see,” Briatore remains vague but praises the Argentine’s improvements since his comeback about a year ago. Back then, he even openly criticized his driver’s performances, as heard in the current season of Drive to Survive (“You are the problem”).
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Meanwhile, he is much closer to Gasly and can also regularly beat the Frenchman: Including the sprint qualifying sessions, Colapinto had the upper hand over his teammate in five of the last qualifying sessions.
| Race | Gasly (Q) | Colapinto (Q) | Gasly (R) | Colapinto (R) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 5 | 2 | |
| Australia | 14. | 16. (+0.769) | 10. | 14. (+1 lap) |
| China | 7. | 12. (+0.354) | 6. | 10. (+1 lap) |
| Japan | 7. | 15. (+0.753) | 7. | 16. (+33.4) |
| Miami | 9. (+0.048) | 8. | Retirement | 7. |
| Canada | 14. (+0.330) | 10. | 8. (+15.1) | 6. |
| Monaco | 9. | 14. (+0.233) | 3. | 14. (+28.6) |
| Barcelona | 14. (+0.070) | 13. | 7. | 10. (+24.1) |
“Franco integrates much better into the team. He improves mentally enormously, technically and also in the relationship with the team,” emphasizes Briatore and refers to a decision at Renault at the beginning of the millennium. “When I brought Fernando [Alonso], I sent him to Minardi for a year to learn.”
“And then I chose Fernando as a replacement for Jenson Button. And you people went crazy. The entire British press went crazy. He fires the world champion to get this Spaniard, and blah, blah, blah. I always tell you: Only the future will show me whether I was right or not. I was right.”
Decision by the summer break
Whether he can say that for Colapinto someday remains to be seen. “He has talent. Period, end of story. He has talent,” emphasizes Briatore. “I don’t know at what talent level we will ultimately arrive with him. But I am sure he has talent. That is 100 percent certain.”
He also points to Kimi Antonelli, whose talent was also not fully apparent last year but who has now stormed Formula 1 and leads the championship clearly. “This year he has fully played out his talent. And Franco has not yet fully shown his talent because he is still on this path.”
Whether he will continue to get the chance to follow this path in 2027 is still open. But Briatore says he would like to continue with him “if Franco continues to perform as he does now and the relationship between Franco and Pierre remains as it is at the moment.”
“It’s exactly like back then with Alonso, with Fisichella, with Trulli – a great relationship. So why not?”
“I prefer it. I know Franco very well by now, we know Pierre very well. We are currently in the phase where we are building the technology and the team. Consistency? Maybe. We still have plenty of races ahead of us, just until the end of August. And before the summer break, we will decide.”
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