Flavio Briatore DENIES Franco Colapinto deadline in bizarre contract U-turn

Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore has denied that Franco Colapinto will just be with the team for five races.

Argentine youngster Colapinto has rejoined the F1 grid with Alpine, replacing Jack Doohan who was only given six races in the seat despite being a rookie.

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Colapinto made his Alpine debut last weekend at the Imola Grand Prix, but suffered a disappointing start when he crashed out of qualifying. His car was rebuilt ready for the race, but the 21-year-old was only able to finish a lowly 16th.

It had initially been thought that Colapinto had joined on a five-race contract, with Briatore himself suggesting that the team are trying out a variety of driver combinations in order to make sure they have the right lineup for 2026, when new regulations come into the sport.

However, Briatore now seems to have back tracked on this notion, now suggesting that Colapinto could be Alpine's driver 'forever'.

"It's not that a driver gets three or five races. I expected more from Jack Doohan - maybe he needs a break," Briatore told Sky Italy.

"Franco will race as much as needed. I read somewhere that he'll have five races, but no, there's no set limit on his races.

"He needs to be fast, not crash, and score points. I'm only asking him these three things - not 10. If he does them well, he will drive forever."

Alpine's turbulent few weeks

Doohan's axing from the team has been met with some criticism as to how Alpine are operating, with the Enstone outfit having signed Colapinto as a reserve driver before Doohan had even started the 2025 season.

Racing legend Mick Doohan - father of Alpine star Jack - has been rather vocal on social media about the switch around, recently posting a statistic of Doohan's performance compared to team-mate Pierre Gasly.

On top of this, Alpine's team principal Oliver Oakes recently resigned - although that has been confirmed to not have been anything to do with Doohan's axing.

It means that Briatore, who is quite a controversial figure within Formula 1, is now taking up team principal duties with Alpine, as they seek to get themselves away from ninth in the constructors' championship.

READ MORE: F1 Imola Grand Prix 2025 results: Final classification with penalties applied

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