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<\/p>\nAlpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore wants to be sure that one of Mercedes’ current drivers is not suddenly available next year – potentially through a shock Max Verstappen switch – before he finalises his own Formula 1 team’s line-up.<\/p>\n
While Franco Colapinto is well-placed to retain his seat for 2027 off the back of recent strong performances, Briatore – Alpine’s de facto team boss – said that the potential for surprise movement elsewhere meant he would be keeping his options open for now.<\/p>\n
In a clear hint about where he sees opportunity for a shake-up in the entire driver market picture, Briatore said that what happens with Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli is a prime focus for him.<\/p>\n
Asked by The Race about the team’s driver plans for 2027, Briatore said: “We don’t know what is going to happen with Mercedes.<\/p>\n
“We don’t know if Mercedes will pick up Max, or whatever. So let’s see what we have in the house before we proceed.”<\/p>\n
While F1 2026 title rivals Russell and Antonelli both have clear options with Mercedes into next season, that has not stopped speculation that the manufacturer could become a home for Verstappen if he elects to move on from Red Bull but stay in F1.<\/p>\n
Verstappen is currently pondering his future and, while he recently made it clear that he would remain in F1 if the rules change – and likely only if they do – he has drawn short of committing to that being with Red Bull.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf in Canada about whether he was definitely staying at Red Bull, Verstappen said: “I’m in no rush. Ideally, I’d like to stay associated with Red Bull for the rest of my life; I’ve always said that. But making that decision doesn’t have to happen today or tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
It is understood that Verstappen’s current contract with Red Bull that runs until 2028 has performance-related clauses that mean he can walk from the squad if he is not second in the drivers’ championship by the summer break.<\/p>\n
Verstappen is currently seventh in the standings, and 45 points behind second-placed Russell.<\/p>\n
This timeline means that Briatore is likely to wait a while before finalising what Alpine does with its second seat alongside Pierre Gasly, who has a long-term contract.<\/p>\n
Colapinto praise<\/p>\n
While Colapinto had a troubled time with Alpine last year, failing to score a point at the 18 rounds he contested, he has made an impressive step for this season.<\/p>\n
He has been the faster of the two Alpine drivers at the past two race weekends, finishing seventh in Miami then taking a career-best sixth in Canada most recently.<\/p>\n
This progress is something Briatore was delighted about, especially since he has seen a change of attitude from Colapinto – who turned 27 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a media briefing that announced Alpine’s new title sponsorship deal with Gucci for 2027, Briatore said: “Last year Colapinto was only criticised by everybody – and [people asked] why would I take Colapinto? Big mistake, Colapinto, this and that.<\/p>\n
“But I believe Franco has a talent. We spend a lot of time together, and when you’re talking with him, he’s much more mature. Last year he was still a kid.<\/p>\n
“There was a lot of pressure [on him], because every race you don’t know if you stay in the team, if he’s out, and this and that. Now he’s calmed down.”<\/p>\n
Briatore said that if Colapinto remains on the trajectory he is on now then he has every chance of keeping his seat into 2027.<\/p>\n
“Franco, honestly, I believe he has the talent to be one of the top drivers,” added Briatore.<\/p>\n
“In Canada he’s done a super job. On Friday he did not do FP1 because he had a problem with the battery.<\/p>\n
“Then he jumped in the car, qualified and got in the top 10. Stuff like this is not usual, not for a driver doing stuff like that.<\/p>\n
“For the moment, we have Gasly and we have Colapinto. For 2027, we have Gasly because we signed with him long term, and then we see.<\/p>\n
“I hope that Franco is doing a very good job from now until the end of the season to continue.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore wants to be sure that one of Mercedes’ current drivers is not suddenly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-700221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}