The Jenson Button verdict on Flavio Briatore that will give Franco Colapinto hope ahead of Alpine decision

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Franco Colapinto’s future in F1 is looking uncertain amid a difficult rookie season. Pressure from within the team hasn’t helped his confidence, but judging from past comments made by Jenson Button, the 22-year-old may have some hope to cling to.

Colapinto is the only driver left on the grid who has yet to register a world championship point in the current F1 standings.

The Argentine took over from Jack Doohan after the Australian was ousted from the seat at the conclusion of the Miami Grand Prix race weekend.

Since then, Colapinto has been under mass pressure from Alpine leadership to prove that he is worth them investing in for them in the future.

Alpine have identified a ‘leading candidate’ to replace Colapinto, but it is understood that the team are waiting for the upcoming season of F1’s new 2026 regulations to make a driver change.

READ MORE: Who is Alpine’s F1 executive adviser Flavio Briatore? Everything to know

Jenson Button was often left confused by Flavio Briatore’s contradictory statements to the media

Jenson Button spent two seasons under the leadership of Flavio Briatore during a two-year stint with Renault beginning in 2001.

According to the 2009 world champion’s 2019 book, How To Be An F1 Driver, he was often left confused by the Italian executive making comments in private, only to contradict himself when talking to the media.

On page 281, Button wrote, “Flavio based his whole persona on being a flamboyant Italian. And with that came a very outspoken side.

“Except that he tended to reserve his most flamboyant and outspoken moments for when the cameras and tape recorders were running. In private, to your face, he was actually really nice, when you could understand a word he was saying.

“But then he’d go off and say something to the press that contradicted what he’d just said to you in private, and you found yourself wondering, ‘Well, which is it, mate? Is it this way, that you’ve just told me in the office, or is it the other way, that you’ve just told the press in the paddock?’”

Despite the impressive performances of a 22-year-old Button, Briatore decided to replace him with Fernando Alonso, who would go on to win consecutive championships with the Italian at Renault in 2005 and 2006.

READ MORE: Who is Alpine 2025 F1 driver Franco Colapinto? Everything you need to know

Franco Colapinto could take hope from Jenson Button’s previous comments about Flavio Briatore

Briatore has been rather brutal in his comments regarding the performances of Colapinto during his first full rookie season in F1.

Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix weekend at the start of September, Briatore admitted that he overestimated Colapinto at the time of the Argentine’s introduction to the fold at Alpine in replacement of Doohan.

Briatore’s words to journalists on race weekends may be his own personal tactic in trying to motivate the best out of the drivers in his stable.

If so, they haven’t had the intended effect, with Colapinto recording a 17th-place finish in Italy and a 19th-place finish in Azerbaijan.

It was reported that Alpine would replace Colapinto if he failed to perform in Baku, and his crash in qualifying and a last-place finish for cars that took the chequered flag in Azerbaijan is the definition of not performing.

There hasn’t been any movement on Alpine’s side in terms of a driver change, so it could very well prove to be a bluff from the Italian executive.