F1: Valtteri Bottas, probable replacement by Franco Colapinto in Alpine?

The rumor arose strong on the weekend of the Austrian GP and points to the possibility that the Finn occupy the place of the Argentine in the French team this year.

The rumor shot at the Austria GP, played last weekendand points to a possible change of pilots in Alpine; Another one. Flavio Briatore, the French team’s mandamás, met with Toto Wolff, director of Mercedes, on Spielberg Friday. The conclave may have been to delineate the 2026 in which Estone cars will carry Mercedes engines, to talk about lost oxen or, perhaps, the theme that ignited the noise was touched: a possible pass from Valtteri Bottas, reserve of the silver arrows, towards the hosts of Don Briatore to occupy in the short term the place of Franco Colapinto.

The noise is. As was, at the time, behind each movement of Jack Doohan in Alpine with collapint in the cats. Alpine’s present in F1 is extremely bad and does not give signs of a possible recovery, Because, according to Pierre Gasly (number 1 of the formation) there will be no improvements in the A525 in the next races. Briatore, skilled in these lides, needs an immediate blow of action to mitigate the lousy track performance. Everything, of course, in the middle of the treasurer that left Luca de Meo’s resignation to the CEO World Ceo de Renault, precisely the man who took Flavio as his advisor.

The car is not to add points, or close. When Colapint debuted in the Emilia-Romagna GP, for an initial period (according to the official statement) of five races, the Piedmontés went to the crossing of his own words written in the announcement and He chose to give three commandments to the Argentine: you will not collide, you must go quickly and add points. The precept of scoring was not fulfilled, nor can Gasly, and the Buenos Aires is the only current grid pilot who has no points. In the middle, Briatore grew a bonsai: Sauber.

The team that will be Audi in 2026 seemed to be sentenced to be last in builders this year, total its project points to the future. However, in hike they worked and in Barcelona incorporated an update package that took off the C45 and the duo Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto added 20 points in the last three racesalmost twice those achieved by Alpine on 11 dates, all by Gasly. Only an almost unnatural fact such as San Pablo 2024, when Esteban Ocon and Gasly signed a 2-3 unthinkable in the interlagos flood seems to be able to avoid Alpine’s last final position this season. Meanwhile, the rumors of sale of the equipment are peeked (Hyundai, by the hand of Cyril Abiteboul?).

Briatore is absolute. It always was. After another bad performance by Alpine in Austria, he said: “In the end, we are giving ground to our direct rivals in the championship after another race without adding a single point, and this level of performance is becoming frankly more and more worrying. On Saturday, the car was fast and should have been well positioned in Q3 with two cars. Sundays are a very different story for us and it is important that we understand why, especially if we want to reverse this difficult situation of the season. ”The message can be released for the Colapint camp, who stayed outside the classification in Q2.

Consulted Wolff on whether at the meeting he negotiated Bottas, he said: “Well thought. I have not done that.” Briatore did not placate the rumor of any waysto. Nor does it sound crazy: next year there will be Alpine-Mercedes alliance for the engine and in the silver arrows several times they warned that they will never locked the future of their pilots. Valtteri was left without a place in Sauber and was rescued by Brackley as a reserve, but already warned that he wants to return to the grid. There is a flirting with Cadillac, a team that will arrive at the World Cup in 2026 as 11th team. And now the Alpine rumor emerged. Experience has plenty: 246 races on the back, ten victories and two runner -ups.

Briatore was clear when Colapinto was anointed as a starter: he is working to form the best possible pair for 2026 and, he also said, he cannot have those who consider the best: Max Verstappen. The rumor comes just at the moment when the Argentine pilot had better times in the race than his experienced companion, although in the global figures he loses. But today Briatore needs a blow of effect that knows that it will not have on the performance of the A525 and presses inside doors. Today, the pressure falls on Franco. That is why the phrase about Austria’s Q3, its sayings about the worry present and the possible signing of Bottas. And if something was missing, Paul Aron, Alpine reservation, was lent to Sauber to turn in the first free trial of Great Britain and Hungary, Just before the boreal summer break, at which time changes are activated. Another way of tightening the pins for Colapinto, because if the Estonian had a great performance in those two outputs, the noise would increase. As well as Collapinto himself favored his passage through the FP1 of Silverstone of 2024 to dethrone Logan Sargeant time later. Only time will say if it was barely a rumor, meanwhile, Franco will arrive more pressured than ever to the GP of Great Britain this weekend.