Franco Colapinto continues his great adventure in Formula 1 and the calendar marks the Austrian Grand Prix as the next stop in the European stage of the world championship. This Friday, the Argentine faces the first free practice, with high spirits after a good performance in Barcelona, where he again scored a point for a tenth place that was demoted from eighth due to a post-race penalty.
Colapinto finds himself with a car that has aerodynamic updates for this race. The practice will feature, as usual, several reserve drivers who will replace the regulars to gain kilometers and experience. Dino Beganovic will drive for Leclerc at Ferrari; Luke Browning for Carlos Sainz at Williams; Jak Crawford for Lance Stroll at Aston Martin; Ryo Hirakawa for Esteban Ocon at Haas; Paul Aron for Gabriel Bortoleto at Audi; and Ayumu Iwasa for Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls.
Just four minutes from the start, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull stopped in the pit lane, in front of the Audi garage. The car was immediately pushed back to its box for inspection. Ten minutes later it went out again, but the car stopped again at the garage door; history repeated: mechanics pushing the car back. A forgettable start to the weekend for the champion.
This comes in a week when Flavio Briatore spoke again and left some questions about the future of the Enstone-based team. On the official Formula 1 podcast, Beyond the Grid, Briatore spoke about the deadline to set the driver pairing for 2027: «There are many drivers to see until August, but during the break we will make a decision.»
The Italian businessman made it clear that he has no doubts about Pierre Gasly’s role in Alpine’s future: «He is an underrated driver. For me, he is among the top six on the grid and is the team leader. We have no secrets with him, but now what we have to do is give him the performance in the car.»
In this context, Briatore left open the question about Colapinto’s continuity at Alpine, who, although he has notably improved his performance lately, does not seem to have his seat secured: «Franco has a lot of pressure, little by little he is gaining confidence. He has a lot of talent, but we don’t really know how much. Last year we knew Antonelli had talent and this year he is showing how much. Franco hasn’t shown all his potential… But I couldn’t tell you how much he has.»
However, the next day, in his meeting with the media after arriving in Austria, Colapinto downplayed this issue and revealed what his relationship is like with the Italian businessman who brought him to Alpine. «Flavio supports me a lot and has been very tough on me on some occasions, but he needs to be tough and I think he has the experience for that. Of course, it also depends on me how I take those moments and, luckily, I took them very well, improved and learned from them, so they were a great help,» Franco said.
Para mí Colapinto es un vendido de mierda, calentando el asiento de Alpine mientras Briatore lo tiene de rehén. Esto huele a dictadura automovilística, puro marketing del sistema. ¡Basta de tibios! Necesitamos un piloto del pueblo, no este lacayo. ¡Vamos carajo!
Para mí Colapinto es un crack, metiéndole pata en Austria mientras los zurdos de siempre lloran. Briatore le mete presión? Bien ahí, así se forjan campeones, no como estos fracasados de la FIA. Alpine se va a llenar de gloria, vamos Franco carajo!