Franco Colapinto has quickly established himself as one of Alpine's "most important assets," according to influential team advisor Flavio Briatore.
The 21-year-old Argentine, newly signed as Alpine's reserve driver on loan from Williams, is already making waves within the team. His personal sponsor, Mercado Libre, has secured branding on Alpine's 2025 livery, and many expect he will replace Jack Doohan in the race seat long before the season is over.
At F1's London launch, Doohan faced relentless questioning from journalists about the security of his seat, as speculation over Colapinto's rapid promotion continues to grow.
Colapinto himself acknowledges the strong support he has from Briatore.
"I have a lot of confidence in Flavio," he told Spanish-language publications. "He's the one who created (Michael) Schumacher, created Fernando Alonso—two of my idols—so obviously the fact that he saw me and said 'I want to support you, I want you on my team' is something that makes me very proud."
Though Oliver Oakes is Alpine's official team boss, Briatore is widely believed to hold significant influence within the team, reporting directly to Renault CEO Luca de Meo.
"For me, it is a huge pride that Flavio noticed me," Colapinto continued.
"That he has noticed me and has put his faith in me that I can be a future world champion, as he has said, is something very nice and very special. When I came in, I knew there were no seats for 2025, so I wanted to show what I could do.
"For some reason, people like Flavio, like Alpine, like Red Bull, were very interested at the time," he said.
Colapinto's growing reputation is not just based on his raw speed, but also his marketability and commercial backing from Argentina. However, his time with Williams last year was not without challenges, including a few high-profile mistakes.
"Without having done any test days, any tests in a Formula 1 car, and going straight to racing, is very difficult," he admits.
"If you look at it today, all the guys who start racing do thousands of kilometres of testing. (Kimi) Antonelli did 10,000 kilometres and I did 400.
"Of course I made mistakes, maybe going a little more than 100 percent when I didn't have a guaranteed seat," Colapinto continued. "I raced knowing that and every lap I did, every corner I did, I needed to be at 100 percent."
On his unique personality, the young driver says he simply isn't trying to change who he is.
"I am as I want to be. Max (Verstappen) is also a driver who always says what he feels. I entered Formula 1 from racing in F2 and I tried not to change at all."
With many insiders expecting Briatore to orchestrate Colapinto's promotion sooner rather than later, the Alpine advisor made it clear how highly he values his new signing.
"We fought to have Franco in the team and he is one of the most important assets for us," said the 74-year-old Italian.
"We have to be patient, because he is very young, but I believe in talent. Because when you have the talent and you manage it well, you are successful. I can see that Franco is naturally fast.
"This year he will be a test driver and he is already working hard in the simulator," Briatore concluded. body check tags ::
