As Franco Colapinto began his Alpine career with a crash in qualifying and zero points, Flavio Briatore has made it clear that “only” performance matters as Alpine decide who’s in the car.

And it could even be a “race-by-race” decision.

The ‘three things’ Flavio Briatore is asking of Franco Colapinto

Alpine announced after the Miami Grand Prix that Colapinto would replace Jack Dooahn for the next five races, the Australian driver having failed to score a point in his six races.

Speaking about trying “something different” and assessing the team’s “options” with the all-important F1 2026 championship in mind, Briatore announced: “Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races.”

But like Doohan’s first Grand Prix of the F1 2025 season included a big crash, so did Colapinto’s.

The Argentinean driver, who earned a bit of a reputation last season as a driver who is quick but crashes, suffered a big crash in qualifying when he spun the exit of the Tamburello chicane and speared into the barrier late in Q1.

It was a disappointing end as Colapinto’s lap time was fast enough to progress to Q2, but he couldn’t join the action due to the heavy damage to his A525.

Adding to his misery, he was then given a one-place grid penalty for a red-flag breach during the first stoppage in Q1.

He lined up 16th on the grid and failed to make any impression in the Grand Prix, P16 at the line.

The good news for Colapinto is that even though Briatore spoke of five races in the announcement, the Italian says he may have the rest of the season. The bad news, it will be decided on a race-by-race basis.

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Briatore initially hinted at this to Sky Italia, telling the broadcaster that Colapinto will race “as much as needed” as “there’s no set limit on his races”.

“He needs to be fast, not crash, and score points,” he added. “I’m only asking him these three things — not 10. If he does them well, he’ll drive forever.”

He was quizzed on that versus the initial five races deadline by F1TV, saying: “Franco is in the car. The team decide if it’s race-by-race or the whole season.”

As for what will be the deciding factor, “the performance,” said the Italian. “It’s only the performance.

“We need two cars [together] because it’s very tight [with] every team. We need two cars all the time. Let’s see.”

As for Alpine’s decision to demote Doohan to reserve driver, the Alpine executive director says the team felt it was all getting a much for the Australian. That they had Colapinto in the wings meant it made sense to give him a break.

“I believe at one point with Jack it was very difficult, and it was difficult for Jack as well. I believe at one point Jack [needed] a break from thinking about it,” he said.

“We had a possibility to have Franco in the team and we tried to swap, to see if it’s better for the team, if it’s better from Franco. The team has to find the best way possible to be competitive.”

He added: “I feel sorry as well for Jack, he put everything together to be an F1 driver.”

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