A former team-mate of Franco Colapinto has questioned the “not justified” hype that surrounds the young Argentine following his big-money move to Alpine.

The Enstone team are rumoured to have paid in excess of €10million to lure Colapinto away from Williams, but a former team-mate of the new Alpine reserve driver has questioned whether he was worth the money.

Franco Colapinto hype questioned by former team-mate

Alpine’s desire to sign Colapinto has many predicting the Argentine may soon be in the car at the expense of rookie Jack Doohan.

But while there has been plenty of praise so far for the 21-year-old, former team-mate Roman Rusinov has been a rare critical voice.

The pair drove together during the 2021 WEC season and the Russian said he felt underwhelmed by Colapinto’s F1 debut with Williams in F1 2024.

“For me personally, Franco Colapinto did not make a splash in Formula 1,” Rusinov said as per French outlet Nextgen-Auto.

“He had two options: drive carefully, but then he risked not being recognised, or push as hard as possible, which led to constant accidents.

“At Williams he did exactly the same thing as at G-Drive. Franco is a good driver in terms of lap times, but in terms of results he has never lived up to expectations.

“He makes a lot of mistakes.”

Rusinov went on to suggest the hype around Colapinto was “not justified by the end result.”

“Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to learn from it. He just keeps trying to prove that he’s the fastest – and makes mistakes.

“In the six races that Franco has driven for us, he’s made five mistakes. In the only race where Colapinto didn’t make any mistakes, we won.

“So he’s a good driver and quite fast, but he’s still just a kid. Speed ​​alone is not enough.

“I like Franco a lot, he’s a great guy, but usually all the hype around him is not justified by the end result.”

That critical view it would seem is not shared by Alpine senior advisor Flavio Briatore who posted a clip of Colapinto during his first test in an Alpine on social media this week.

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Speaking before the signing of Colapinto in December, Briatore insisted that Doohan would be given a fair chance at the start of F1 2025.

“The only thing we can be sure of is death!” he told French publication Le Parisien.

“We’ll start the year with Pierre [Gasly] and Jack, I can guarantee that. After that, we’ll see as the season progresses.

“I have to get the team in the right condition to get results and the driver is the one who has to conclude the work of nearly 1,000 people behind him. Everyone works for just two people.

“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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