Briatore offers glimpse into Colapinto Alpine 'debut'

Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore has offered a behind-the-scenes look of Franco Colpainto's debut for the team. The Argentine driver has signed with Alpine as one of its reserves for the upcoming season. Colapinto's new role comes following a positive spell at Williams last year after he was called up to replace Logan Sargeant mid-season. Although he was involved in a handful of high-speed crashes, Colapinto predominantly impressed throughout his nine races in the car and scored five championship points. The 21-year-old knew his stint would be short-lived as Carlos Sainz was already signed up to partner Alex Albon in 2025. Colapinto will be on hand during the upcoming season to step in for either Pierre Gasly or Jack Doohan if needed. As he continues to get up to speed at the Enstone-based outfit, Colapinto jumped behind the wheel of an older Alpine car on Wednesday at the Circuit de Catalunya as part of the TPC [Testing of Previous Cars] programme. Briatore, who rejoined the Renault-owned Alpine team last year, shared footage on his Instagram story of Colapinto climbing out of the car after a run.