Alpine Formula 1 boss Flavio Briatore has admitted to making mistakes with the rapid promotion of Franco Colapinto to a race seat and also the development of its 2025 car.
Briatore made his second media-facing appearance of the season in the official FIA team representatives press conference as F1 returned from its summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix.
With Alpine last in the championship, one of two outfits to have dropped a driver in-season, and being a team that has consistently been subject to speculation about its future, Briatore unsurprisingly faced a varied line of questioning at Zandvoort.
Mistake made with Colapinto
Colapinto's point-less Alpine career so far has raised the inevitable question of whether he will complete the season, let alone continue for 2026, given he himself replaced Jack Doohan in-season.
Briatore has strongly hinted that promoting Colapinto to a race seat alongside Pierre Gasly at round seven was an error, and that Alpine has not managed him correctly.
When asked what more he needs to see from Colapinto, Briatore said he has "seen everything already" and "I don't think I need to see anything more" - which could generously be interpreted positively given he has kept Colapinto in the car after the summer break, if it were not for what Briatore said after.
"It's difficult - also for this driver it's very difficult to cope with this car," he said.
"These cars are very, very heavy, very, very quick. For the young driver, to put in F1, maybe it was not the time to have Franco in F1. Maybe he needed another year to be part of F1. And I'm not happy.
"What is important is the results. He is trying very hard, we are trying very hard with the engineers to please him and everything, but really it's not what I expected from Colapinto."
When asked by The Race if Colapinto would complete the season, and what the plan was for 2026, Briatore avoided answering directly.
"Maybe Colapinto had the same problem as what Toto [Wolff] said [about Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli] - too much pressure to be in F1," he said.
"Last year he had two or three races [in which he] was doing very well, and maybe to be in the team with a good driver like Pierre, always in competition with the team-mate, maybe we put too much pressure to him.
"We need to consider that, the driver is a human being, we need sometimes to understand exactly what is going on in the head of these kids.
"It's our mistake sometimes to underestimate the human part of the driver. Maybe I missed something there, in the management of the driver Colapinto.
"For the future, honestly, I don't know."
Alpine 'helped' Bottas's Cadillac deal
Two proven potential back-ups for Alpine to turn to if Briatore gives up on its own young drivers were taken off the table this week as Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas signed for the new Cadillac team for 2026.
There were at least initial talks with both Perez and Bottas about driving for Alpine, with Bottas even in the frame at some stage as a potential 2025 option.
Briatore claimed there was no serious intention there, though, and seemed to admit that Alpine was used as a bargaining chip for Bottas's Cadillac deal.
"I talk with a lot of people, I talked with Bottas as well," he said. "We were talking with Toto as well at the time. But really never there was a discussion for Bottas to drive for Alpine.
"I think [it] helped Bottas a little bit to sign the contract with Cadillac.
"I like Valtteri, he's a super driver. He was unlucky to be at Mercedes the same time with Lewis [Hamilton], when Lewis was really at the peak of the driving.
"We have a different idea [for our future]. It's nice to have Valtteri back but I'm looking for something else."
Lack of 2025 development a mistake
A change of Renault CEO at the end of July has added to Alpine's F1 future being constantly under scrutiny during Briatore's tenure, especially given its poor 2025 performance.
Since joining as the effective head of the F1 project over 12 months ago, Briatore has led the team to the back of the grid.
It is last in the constructors' championship, and unlikely to change that this year given it has put all its focus on the new rules coming into effect for 2026, when Alpine will abandon its own engine and switch to being a Mercedes customer.
But with 2025 going so badly as Alpine's car has been disappointing and rivals have all made significant progress, Briatore has now admitted that "we made a mistake to not have any steps from the beginning of the season to now".
"We paid for that," he said. "Two tenths, three tenths is 10-15 cars.
"We know we have a big handicap [from the] engine, and we hope to forget this year and to be happy in 2026.
"This is what we're hoping in this moment."
2026 podiums still the target
On the subject of 2026, Briatore has taken a big gamble that he still expects to pay off in a big way.
He has bet heavily on focusing everything on next season - for which he maintains podiums must be the target despite Alpine's woeful 2025 season.
"If not, we need to change the job," Briatore said. "I change the job."
Briatore is Alpine's de facto team principal even though he is not an F1 team employee or on the books with the car company or Renault itself.
He was hired as ex-Renault CEO Luca de Meo's executive advisor and his exact arrangement now is unclear following the arrival of Francois Provost as CEO at the end of July, but Briatore is to all intents and purposes the F1 team boss.
Wider financial issues for the Renault Group have prompted some tentative speculation that a sale, in part or in full, of the F1 team would produce a significant and much needed financial boost from an asset that is underperforming.
However, Briatore insisted Provost is "very enthusiastic" about the programme and "Renault wants to stay in F1".
Horner 'not in Alpine picture' right now
It has been speculated that Alpine could be a target for recently ousted Red Bull team boss and CEO Christian Horner for a return to F1 at some point.
The rumours have ranged from Horner potentially buying a stake of Alpine with other investors and taking charge of the project, to - as arose in the FIA press conference - a combination of Horner, Briatore and ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone buying the team.
Briatore said that he has not considered anything "in this moment" related to Horner and "for the moment he's not in the picture at Alpine".
The day-to-day running of the F1 team will soon shift to incoming managing director Steve Nielsen, an ex-Briatore employee at Renault's F1 team in a previous era, who has been recruited to fill a major gap left by the sudden resignation of team principal Oliver Oakes in May.
"We need somebody like Steve," said Briatore. "We need a team manager, we need somebody who knows the system, somebody who knows the people, and somebody coordinating the team from A to Z.
"It's not only one job I expect from Steve. I expect Steve to be in charge from A to Z. Basically, it's what the managing director is doing.
"I am happy to have Steve next week. I believe the first day is Monday, and our first race with Steve is in Monza."
