Franco Colapinto is the wrong choice for Alpine - the solution is obvious

Franco Colapinto is poised to remain in his race seat with Alpine for the 2026 F1 season, as reported by RacingNews365 earlier today.

De facto team principal Flavio Briatore has made clear in recent weeks that his decision regarding Pierre Gasly’s team-mate for next year has narrowed to a choice between the Argentine incumbent and reserve driver Paul Aron.

Despite beginning the campaign in the A525, Jack Doohan is not thought to have figured in the flamboyant Italian’s considerations — hardly a surprise at this stage.

What does raise eyebrows, however, is the team’s apparent disinterest in exploring alternatives beyond its current pool, particularly given Colapinto’s ongoing struggles since taking over the seat six rounds into the season and Aron’s limited F1 experience.

Colapinto has shown flashes of pace, but he often must go over the limit to extract it, which corners him into making mistakes. At this point, his reputation as error-prone is backed up by ample evidence.

Briatore could not hide his dissatisfaction during qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix, when Colapinto was eliminated from Q1 having failed to submit a clean lap.

In the interest of fairness, the 22-year-old has generally shown improvement of late, and Briatore was no doubt a little proud of Colapinto's defiance of team orders in Austin — even if the team did publicly condemn it and the driver himself rowed back on his actions.

It was the fight Briatore wanted to see, and may well have factored into the decision to afford Colapinto more time, which will come at a juncture when Alpine is expected to become significantly more competitive under Mercedes power, too.

But that does not escape the reality that there are better options available to Team Enstone, both inside and outside the F1 paddock, and both short-term and long-term.

Although the best choice right now may require some patience — and a process of elimination.

Either or

At present, F2 standout Arvid Lindblad appears well-positioned to claim one of the two Racing Bulls seats, while Isack Hadjar has been confirmed for either Red Bull or its sister team next season.

That leaves Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda seemingly competing for the remaining slot.

Either driver would represent a tangible upgrade on Colapinto; it is difficult to imagine both failing to score points in the A525 this year, regardless of the car's shortcomings.

Although Red Bull’s final decision on its driver line-ups — expected shortly after the Mexico weekend — has been delayed, Alpine can afford to bide its time.

With the French outfit holding the only unclaimed seat for the 2026 season, urgency is hardly a factor.

Even if Tsunoda and Lawson are retained and Lindblad assumes a reserve role — scenarios still on the table — Colapinto will remain available to Alpine at year's end.

So too will his substantial financial backing, which increasingly appears to be the decisive factor behind this premature commitment.