What’s next for Franco Colapinto? Positive signals from Flavio Briatore

Franco Colapinto made his Grand Prix debut back in 2024, though not at the season opener, but during the 16th round of the World Championship at Monza, where he was able to take over the Williams previously driven by the disgraced American Logan Sargeant for the rest of the season. The young Argentine seized the opportunity to demonstrate his talent.

He finished the first race in an impressive twelfth place; at the very next race weekend in Baku, he scored his first World Championship points by finishing eighth, and in Austin he also made it into the points by finishing tenth. Despite this respectable performance, there was no place for Colapinto at the long-established Grove-based team for 2025; they opted instead to sign Carlos Sainz.

Colapinto had to wait until the seventh race of the 2025 season at Imola before he was allowed to compete in another Grand Prix – this time in the Alpine car, which he took over from Jack Doohan. However, the Buenos Aires-born driver failed to score a single World Championship point in any of the 17 Grands Prix he contested, which is why the first doubts about the future of his career began to surface.

Hard work pays off

Yet the Alpine team continued to back the 23-year-old, who has already secured a top-10 finish in four Grands Prix this year. This puts him in twelfth place in the provisional World Championship standings. Nevertheless, there is still debate about the future of his career, as rumours have recently surfaced about a return to Alpine for former champion Fernando Alonso, who could take over Colapinto’s seat.

However, recent comments by Alpine’s special adviser Flavio Briatore suggest that Colapinto is set to stay. During his appearance on the ‘Beyond The Grid’ podcast, for instance, the Italian explained: “Franco has integrated much better into the team. He’s improving significantly – both mentally and technically, and also in terms of his relationship with the team. We’re working very hard with him.”

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The hard work is paying off, according to the 76-year-old: “Step by step, his confidence is growing. I don’t know just how much talent we can bring out in him, but there’s no doubt he’s got talent.”