Flavio Briatore: “Colapinto has the same problem as Kimi in Mercedes”

The Italian spoke at a conference in the Netherlands and drew a comparison between the Argentine of Alpine and the Italian of the German team to explain the difficult moment he is going through.

Formula 1 Fridays have a usual appointment: press attention by team directors. After passing through El Corralito, a previously chosen group must appear in the conference room. In the Netherlands, headquarters of the 15th date of exercise 2025, Flavio Briatore integrated the group of those who had to sit in the armchairs in the living room. It was not a conference for the Italian: it was his last appearance in these talks because next Monday Steve Nielsen will assume the position of director of Alpineposition that Piedmontés de facto from the untimely resignation of Oliver Oakes in Miami. During the Question Round, the Pope’s septuagenarian of the French Team was consulted on the news of Franco Colapinto.

“Colapinto has the same problem as Kimi in Mercedes: it is under too much pressure. We have to take it into account; they are human beings, they are practically children,” said BriTore. While it is true that these are two very young pilots, it is also real for Colapint to have three years more than the Italian of the silver arrows (22 against 19). Moreover, Gabriel Bortoleto (20), Oliver Bearman (20) and Isack Hadjar (20) are also smaller than the Argentine.

When asked what collapint needs to do in the missing races to end the year and already thinking about 2026, Briatore said: “Being fast, Ja. Everyone sees the result. Maybe, as we said before, there was too much pressure for this pilot, for a young pilot. If the young pilot goes to a small team, expectations are not so high. When the pilot goes to, in the papers, a large team, like Renault, Mercedes, etc., we expect much more of him. We put a lot of pressure and perhaps also our mistake.” That said it in the corralito. A while later, in the living of the press conference, it was lapidary.

They asked him again about Colapinto and what he expected to see from the pilot to ensure his continuity. And it went to the bone. “I have already seen everything, I do not think I need to see anything else. For this pilot, it is very difficult to deal with this car. They are very, very heavy and very, very fast. Maybe it was not the time to have Franco in Formula 1. Maybe I needed another year to be part of Formula 1. I am not happy with the result. The important thing is the result. It really is not what I expected of Collapint. And perhaps Colapinto has too much pressure to be in F1 “.

Of course, he left a final phrase when leaving the conference room, when asked if they would look for a corridor outside Alpine: “We have our own pilots.” A while later, Colapinto would end ninth in the second session of the Netherlands.

The Italian said he had talks with Valtteri Bottas to join Alpine: “We had argued with Bottas about the possibility of running with Alpine before he signed with Cadillac. We might help to sign there,” he said. The Finn was announced with Czech Pérez as the duo of the American giant for the 2026 season.