EXCLUSIVE: Briatore on how ‘changed’ Colapinto earned his seat for 2026 and his target for Alpine next season

Alpine Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore believes Franco Colapinto was "lost" when he joined the team earlier this year but is now a "different" driver who deserves his seat with the squad for 2026.

Briatore was speaking exclusively to F1.com about the news that Colapinto had fended off competition from fellow reserve Paul Aron to stay on as Pierre Gasly's team mate next season.

Colapinto joined Alpine as a reserve driver on a multi-year deal from Williams in January, but was promoted into a race seat from Imola onwards in place of fellow reserve driver Jack Doohan.

His performances in the first few races were disappointing, with Briatore saying at the time that it was "not what I expect from Colapinto" and adding that "maybe it was not the time to have Franco in Formula 1".

But Colapinto's form picked up thereafter, with the Argentine locked 3-3 with Gasly in the head-to-head Qualifying battle while, in recent races, he has been competitive relative to his race-winning team mate.

Unfortunately for the 22-year-old, his improved form has come at a time when Alpine's car pace has dropped off, and it isn't fast enough to score or even regularly reach Q2.

"What's difficult for all these young kids is that they are arriving in this environment of Formula 1 with a lot of pressure from sponsors, the team, etc," Briatore told F1.com.

"Unfortunately, we have a not so performant car. It's difficult to drive. I believe in the beginning Franco was a little bit lost and he needed three or four races to be much better.

"If you see Franco in the beginning when he started racing with us and you see him now, he's a different person. He's much more secure, has much more commitment with engineering and he's done everything to be performing. He spends a lot of time to understand better the car.

"In the last two or three races, the performance of the team is still no good at all, but the performance of Franco was very good."

Colapinto's maturity has 'changed completely in the last few months'

Briatore is not afraid to give his opinion and was honest with Colapinto that he needed to up his game after a lacklustre start to life as Alpine driver. The 75-year-old admitted that he was "impressed" at the way Colapinto has responded to the tough love and subsequently rewarded Briatore's faith in him.

"The relationship with Pierre is very good," said Briatore. "We now have two drivers; we're working with two drivers. Franco feels like he's part of the team. He's one of the two drivers of Alpine.

"Before, we had one driver and everything was on the shoulders of Pierre. Now we have split the weight. It's on the shoulders of Pierre and Franco. Franco is managing well."

He added: "I have spent a lot of time with Franco and I have seen a change in him, the maturity in the last few months has changed completely. He's talking with me like a different guy, with more responsibility.

"He understands what he is doing with the team, with the engineering. He has really surprised me. In the beginning, I had a lot of people in the team who were not convinced about Franco's performance.

"I kept going with Franco and now everyone believes Franco is fantastic for us and is the right team mate for Pierre.

"If you look at the last races, touch wood, there have been no accidents and he's been driving very well. He's been very close – two tenths up, two tenths down to Pierre – and I consider Pierre one of the best drivers in Formula 1, I think he's one of the top six drivers in Formula 1.

"My job is to deliver the right car for Pierre and Franco next year."

Alpine 'didn't see anything better' in terms of alternatives to Colapinto

Alpine were limited in their choice of available drivers given all but four seats (one at Alpine, one at Red Bull and two at Racing Bulls) were already tied up for 2026.

Their disappointing form this year – they're currently 10th and last in the Teams' Championship, 40 points (they have 20 from 20 Grands Prix weekends) adrift of Kick Sauber in ninth – has made them a less attractive destination.

They moved to tie Gasly down to a long-term deal in September, locking him in until at least the end of 2028, and then switched their attention to the second seat.

Colapinto brings strong financial backing from his native Argentina, including Mercado Libre, and while that certainly strengthened his case to be kept on, his turnaround in form was essential in ensuring he came out on top in the fight between him and reserve Paul Aron – with his extension announced on the eve of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend.

"We had not so many choices to change driver, to have a different driver," said Briatore. "If you look at the panorama of the drivers, we have Aron. He's very nice but he's still very young, he still has another one year or two of experience in testing as reserve driver.

"We didn't see anything much better than what Franco is bringing to the team or what Pierre is bringing the team. Our partnership is super for next year and I promise you, our car will be much better than where we are right now."

In keeping the same driver line-up, it adds a layer of stability to a team that has endured a lot of change in recent years.

Alpine targeting P6 in the Teams' Championship in 2026

Briatore returned to Enstone last summer to run the operation, ahead of the news Renault would stop producing Power Units at the end of 2025 with Alpine swapping to customer Mercedes power.

Esteban Ocon left the team a race early in 2024 while Colapinto was parachuted into a race seat in race seven this year. Oli Oakes left his role as Team Principal within a year of joining – with Steve Nielsen later joining as Managing Director – while long-time Renault CEO Luca de Meo, a big F1 fan, left abruptly in June.

The stable driver line-up is the latest step in Briatore's attempt to bring calm to a team that has long been focused on 2026, when sweeping new rules will be introduced, in an attempt to haul the team back up the pack.

"Alpine in the last few years has had no stability," said Briatore. "Now we need to keep stability. The team is growing, a lot of new engineers are arriving.

"We have hired a very good group of engineers and now little by little they are starting to arrive because, with gardening leave, it's typically six months.

"We are setting the team for next season. We will have a great Mercedes engine and gearbox. I'm sure next season will be good for the team and we give our drivers the right car to compete. We are doing the best possible and my target is to be in P6 [next year]."