Flavio Briatore’s request for a ‘very complete report’ as Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan took part in a private test in Barcelona wasn’t the first time the Alpine executive director ordered on his charges’ performances.

The first – a ‘detailed comparison of times’ – was reportedly requested in December after both drivers contested the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

‘In favour of Colapinto of between two and five-tenths over Doohan’

Colapinto was signed to Alpine a month later, the Argentinean brought onboard as the team’s official reserve driver for the F1 2025 championship.

Doohan’s race seat with Alpine is under threat even before the first race of the championship after Briatore refused to guarantee the Australian driver a full season alongside Pierre Gasly.

“The only thing we can be sure of is death!” he told Le Parisien. “We’ll start the year with Pierre and Jack, I can guarantee that. After that, we’ll see as the season progresses.

“If there’s a driver who isn’t making progress, who isn’t bringing me results, I change him. You can’t be emotional in F1.”

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That led to growing speculation that Doohan would perhaps be given only a handful of races with Alpine team boss Oliver Oakes trying to calm the furore as he promised Doohan a “fair crack”.

“I think the intention there isn’t to put [pressure] on his shoulders,” he added to the James Allen on F1 podcast. “It’s genuinely to give the team options further down the line.”

But as pundits continue to debate Alpine’s future line-up, a report from an Argentinean outlet claims Briatore had already done a deep dive and the figures are very much in favour of Colapinto.

Although earlier this week it was reported Briatore wanted a ‘very complete report’ after the two spent time lapping the Barcelona circuit in a pre-season TPC test, La Nacion says that was the second report that Briatore had ordered.

‘With his engineers,’ reads the report, ‘Flavio made a detailed comparison of times between Franco and Jack in Abu Dhabi, the event in which the Australian made his debut, and between both rookies and their respective team-mates: Alexander Albon at Williams and Pierre Gasly at Alpine.’

Taking into account factors such as Colapinto’s Williams suffering damage when he was hit in the opening laps by Oscar Piastri before retiring the car on lap 26, the ‘valid lap times, after removing the influence of the the start and pit stops from the calculation, would be 17.

‘Briatore and his team have surely carefully observed the behaviour of both young people, the quality of their comments, the suggestions to improve the set-up and the mood in general. But in the end, the cars usually rule, of course. And in those 17 rounds, using the same compounds (medium-hards), Colapinto was faster than Doohan by 0.308 seconds on average.’

But conceding that the data was ‘not necessarily’ conclusive given the different cars and that Colapinto’s was damaged, it claims the ‘difference could have been even wider’ with Colapinto reportedly losing ‘two tenths per lap’ due to the crash damage.

Add in their team-mates’ times with Pierre Gasly in the sister Alpine faster than Alex Albon in the Williams, the ‘consistent difference in favour of Colapinto of between two and five-tenths over Doohan can be projected’.

Doohan will begin the season in the Alpine A525 when he lines up on his home grid at next month’s Australian Grand Prix determined to keep Colapinto out of his seat.

“I’m very motivated,” he told Sky F1. “I look forward, to be honest, just to getting on track and doing the work with my hands and my feet and steering that car as best as I can.

“Been watching these guys ever since I was a little boy, especially Lewis [Hamilton]. To be coming in to be one of the 20 drivers on the grid, it’s super special.

“I look forward to just cementing my place here for the future.”

As for Colapinto, he says he’s “ready” if or when he’s called up.

“My role within the team will be to help, to help with everything I can, to bring the team back to the top, to improve the car as much as possible and to help with everything I can,” he said on his first day at the team’s Enstone factory.

“I will be very attentive to whatever happens and obviously always ready if I have to get in the car at some point. Doing all the testing, developing the new car, spending a lot of time in the simulator and obviously being ready for anything.”

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