Why Colapinto’s F1 future is in doubt again

“Sit long by the river,” goes a quote popularly (and incorrectly) attributed to Sun Tzu, “and you will see the bodies of your enemies float by”.

The one certainty at Alpine is a constant state of uncertainty. So many senior executives have been hired and fired over the past few years that you wonder if the ink bearing their names and job titles has time to dry on the frosted glass of the office doors.

This game of musical chairs now extends to the cars themselves, after Jack Doohan was evicted from his cockpit following the Miami Grand Prix to make way for Franco Colapinto.

While the official announcement made it clear Colapinto was in for five races, the clarity soon evaporated once ‘executive adviser’ Flavio Briatore – now the de facto team principal – claimed that figure must have been invented by someone else and said there was “no set limit” for how many races Colapinto would contest.

The scenario became even more muddled during Briatore’s peculiar appearance in the team principals’ press conference ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

“I never tell five races, three races, four races, one race,” he said. “If Colapinto is performing, he’s driving the car. If not, we will see.”

There is no mistaking the tone of threat, and with good reason: in his first three races for Alpine, Colapinto demonstrated all of the bad habits he displayed at Williams last season (where he replaced the struggling Logan Sargeant for the last nine rounds) and little of the sheer pace. When he got in the FW46 at Monza last year he was an instant performance upgrade over Sargeant, but that has not been the case in Alpine’s A325.

In Colapinto’s first outing for Alpine, at Imola, he misunderstood a radio instruction while leaving the garage after a red flag in Q1 and picked up a grid penalty for joining the ‘fast lane’ before the restart time had been confirmed. Shortly afterwards a moment of imprecision at the exit of the Tamburello had devastating consequences as he ran a wheel onto the dirt and spun off into the wall.

In Monaco, Colapinto was eliminated in Q1 and then laboured to 13th place at the flag, two laps down, blaming a strategy that called for him to start the race on the hard-compound tyre. In fact, the result was a combination of starting so far back and suffering as a result of the gamesmanship being played further up the traffic queue by Racing Bulls and Williams. 

A drivetrain issue, requiring a new gearbox, caused him to be eliminated in Q1 again in Spain as his car halted at the end of the pitlane before he could embark on a second run. Track evolution virtually ensured other drivers would surpass his time on their second Q1 runs. Then, in the race, he could only manage 15th place despite the opportunity afforded by the late-race Safety Car. 

“I need to focus on Canada,” he said after the Spanish Grand Prix – and that is correct, as the rumour mill is already grinding away.

Franco Colapinto, Alpine

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

Talk of Sergio Perez replacing Colapinto imminently is understood to spring from one media outlet making an intuitive guess based on Briatore’s well-documented appetite for money. Certainly, Perez would bring wealthy sponsors, but he is believed to be focusing on making his comeback with Cadillac next season and has nothing to gain from exposure in a midfield car right now.

More likely would be test driver Paul Aron, currently racing in F2, or even Doohan – who is still on the payroll as reserve driver, sitting by the proverbial river. 

Briatore has form for ruthlessness – and, as evinced by his evasiveness about Colapinto’s timeline, for not always doing what he says he will do. But the pressure is on him from above to get results, and he will redirect that load onto those below him – including the drivers.

As he also said during that press conference: “I don’t know at this moment if Franco will stay for the season or not, but let’s see. Depends on the performance. We’re only looking at the performance – nothing else.”