Johnny Herbert is certain: “Flavio Briatore wants Franco Colapinto to consistently outperform Pierre Gasly”. Franco Colapinto faces pressure at Alpine.

The Argentine is fighting for his seat
Franco Colapinto’s debut with Alpine at Imola was not a memorable one. The Argentine driver was involved in a crash at the end of Q1 at the Tamburello chicane, while teammate Pierre Gasly managed to reach Q3.

Flavio Briatore defended the Argentine: “This was his first race with Alpine, and he found himself in a difficult situation after the qualifying crash. We’ll see what happens, but we also need to be a bit patient with him because he’s a very young guy with great potential.” He also denied that Franco Colapinto has five races to prove he deserves the seat, although Alpine’s official statement clearly indicated that a new evaluation will take place at Silverstone.

Johnny Herbert, formerly a Benetton driver under Flavio Briatore’s management, told the outlet Fruity King that he believes Flavio Briatore expects Colapinto to beat Pierre Gasly—and not just occasionally: “Franco Colapinto simply needs to be very, very close to Pierre Gasly or beat him,” he said. “When you’re half a second or three tenths off, nowadays that’s a big gap from your teammate. I think Flavio Briatore’s and Alpine’s expectations for Colapinto are to beat Pierre. The pressure the Argentine has to deal with is exactly that: to beat his teammate. And he mustn’t do it just now and then, but be able to do it consistently. There’s no other path for him than to beat his teammate.”