Colapinto under fresh pressure as Alpine eyes Tsunoda
Franco Colapinto's Alpine future is under fresh pressure as Yuki Tsunoda emerges as a 2027 option, even as the Argentine drew a 600,000-strong crowd in Buenos Aires and former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. warns about Flavio Briatore's pull at the team.
600,000 turn out for Colapinto in Buenos Aires
The Argentine has strong backing - both commercially and politically - and appeared at a major demonstration event in Buenos Aires at the weekend, reportedly drawing a crowd of 600,000.
Amid a push to return Argentina to the calendar, Colapinto drove an older Alpine car and also ran in a replica of Juan Manuel Fangio's famous Mercedes-Benz W196.
Tsunoda emerges as 2027 option
However, doubts about his long-term seat prospects are growing, particularly given Alpine's recent willingness to make ruthless driver changes - including the axe of Jack Doohan.
Piquet warns about Briatore's pull
Former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. says the environment around Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore can be particularly unforgiving.
"The biggest mistake for me was taking Flavio as both manager and mentor," the Brazilian told Soy Motor.
"That was our mistake, mine and my parents' - we had no one we could really trust."
"He had six, seven, or eight drivers. I was just a number in the whole. He did whatever was necessary with the puzzle to earn the most out of it himself."
With Briatore again influential at Alpine and initially a big supporter of Colapinto's. Piquet Jr. warned young drivers must be careful.
"If Franco has the right guidance, they must protect his interests. That is the most important thing," he said.
While supported by Briatore, Colapinto is officially represented by Bullet Sports Management.
Piquet warned: "If you are with a large management team with many drivers, you are not the priority. You need someone who really stands up for you."
Related: Can Colapinto secure Alpine's 2026 seat? Briatore weighs in
One F1 fan comment on “Colapinto under fresh pressure as Alpine eyes Tsunoda”
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Zero truth because if Alpine were truly interested in Tsunoda’s services, he would already be driving for them, i.e., they would’ve let Colapinto go after last season in favor of him, but the fact they’ve overlooked Tsunoda at least once before (the other occasion would be for last season instead of Doohan in the first place) means that he effectively has zero chance because teams typically don’t offer drivers they’ve overlooked at least once previously, as overlooking is something that’s done for a reason & the factors that led to overlooking can’t really go away over time, especially without any active racing, so fat chance.
What’s even more critical is that he wouldn’t even be an improvement on Colapinto anymore, based on his most recent average performance level, so all factors considered, the chance of Colapinto being let go for him is zero, or this would’ve happened by now, especially if he definitely were still a better option in comparison.
Alpine has overlooked quite a few drivers on at least one of these above-mentioned occasions, with Tsunoda being only one such driver, & the others including at least Mick, Drugovich, Zhou, Bottas, Magnussen, & Aron.
No better chance than, for example, Zhou, Drugovich, or Aron.
Besides, Alex Dunne is in the organization these days & he’d definitely be the prime candidate to directly replace Colapinto for next season, depending on how he performs in F2, combined & super license eligibility, especially as he’s shown some promise & prospects, so realistically only him, if anyone.
People also shouldn’t forget that Colapinto’s camp brings in a lot of sponsor money via Mercade Libre; hence, they’ve been more forgiving of him than they were with Doohan & thus the willingness to make ruthless changes is less applicable to him, not to mention the sub title is misleading because the relevant text doesn’t even mention Tsunoda in the end, but only the aspect in more general terms.
In reality, Tsunoda’s chances of making a full-time return for next season are next to zero because teams have different driver priorities & wouldn’t let any one of their current full-timers go for an even worse option.