Alpine’s Flavio Briatore hints at Franco Colapinto promotion: “Pressure? That’s Formula 1”. Flavio Briatore refuses to reassure Jack Doohan amid rumors of Franco Colapinto’s F1 debut.

Alpine between Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto
Rumors of a possible switch at Alpine between Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto continue to circulate, and Flavio Briatore isn’t denying them. Speaking live on Sky, the team’s high-profile consultant—reinstated last year by Alpine CEO Luca De Meo to bring order to the team—seemed instead to fuel the speculation that the rookie Australian’s seat may be under increasing threat. These rumors have persisted since Alpine signed Franco Colapinto as their reserve driver, but grew louder this week after one of the Argentine’s sponsors mentioned the Imola event (the next on the calendar) during an off-air moment in a TV interview as the likely stage for his Formula 1 debut.

Doohan vs Colapinto, Briatore speaks
Briatore didn’t shy away from the media frenzy, and if anything, added more fuel to the fire regarding Jack Doohan: “I hear talk about pressure, but if you want to race in F1, you’ll always be under pressure… So if someone tells me a driver is feeling pressure because another might take his place, then I expect that to be motivation to perform. Doohan? When I arrived, the contract was already in place with him. I didn’t influence that decision. But if I hear Jack Doohan is under pressure, then I rule that out—because this is Formula 1. If someone performs well, then there’s no reason to make changes. We’re evaluating things now, and we’ll see how the next races go before making any decisions.”

“This year,” added the manager from Cuneo, “is a transitional one for us as we wait for the Mercedes engine in 2026. We’ll see, but it’s true that there’s a lot of responsibility on the drivers, because the results of a thousand people working depend on them. So we have to be fair with the drivers, but they also need to be fair with us. We’ll evaluate things as we go. For now, our only goal is to try to get at least one car in the points here in Miami. But I don’t accept it when people say pressure is the problem, because in F1, everyone is under pressure.”

“Pressure is what someone working at Fiat earns—€2,500 a month or less… that’s real pressure,” Flavio Briatore concluded, clearly not giving Jack Doohan any assurances about keeping his Formula 1 seat for the remainder of the season.