What Flavio Briatore was seen doing on Alpine pitwall after Franco Colapinto’s British Grand Prix crash

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Franco Colapinto is a step closer to losing his Alpine Formula 1 seat after crashing in British Grand Prix qualifying. He was already under pressure coming into this race.

It emerged after the previous round in Austria that Alpine have held talks over Valtteri Bottas, who’s currently the Mercedes reserve driver. Flavio Briatore also has Paul Aron, who made his FP1 debut for Sauber at Silverstone, at his disposal.

Jack Doohan is unlikely to return for Alpine after losing his seat to Colapinto, but the Argentine still faces a dual threat. He hasn’t scored a point since stepping into the seat.

Colapinto was 19th in Q1 before he lost control of his A525 at the end of the lap. The impact with the barriers was small, but he had to pull over at the end of the pit lane after he got going again.

Flavio Briatore had his head in his hands after Franco Colapinto’s British Grand Prix spin

As pointed out by journalist Nate Saunders on X, Alpine boss Briatore had his ‘head in his hands’ on the pit wall after the incident. It’s a worrying sight for Colapinto.

In a follow-up post, Saunders questioned how much longer Colapinto would last. He survived beyond his initial five-race deal but is being evaluated on a race-by-race basis.

The former Williams driver has only reached Q2 twice in his first six appearances. Teammate Pierre Gasly squeezed through to the second segment in 15th and then impressively made Q3.

Colapinto crashed heavily at the same stage of the Emilia Romagna GP in May. He can’t shake his reputation as an error-prone driver.

Alpine boss Flavio Briatore may have to go back on his word to Franco Colapinto

Coming into the race, one Alpine insider said Colapinto was losing too much time to Gasly. He now trails the Frenchman 5-1 on a Saturday, and 3-1 in the races.

Speaking over the radio, the dejected 21-year-old said: “Sorry, I lost the rears. Probably touched a bump or something. It just went, the rear.”

He maintained that demeanour in his media duties afterwards. Talks with the team’s ruthless chief surely loom.

Briatore ‘assured’ Colapinto that he trusted him, and there’s an argument that Alpine should focus on improving their car. But that logic didn’t save Doohan earlier in the year.