Listen to Pit Talk now ><\/a><\/p>\nBriatore, who was integral to bringing Colapinto \u2014 along with his rumoured lucrative personal sponsors \u2014 to Alpine in the first place, said a stable line-up would help the team focus on adding performance to the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, having consistency is very important,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are now settled from a driver point of view, and I have said many times that, while this is an important piece of the puzzle, the most significant we have to get right is designing and building a fast race car, which absolutely remains our number one priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen Franco truly grow and mature into a great driver this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cFranco belongs in Formula 1 and he belongs at this team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect both Franco and Pierre to continue doing a fantastic job on track and for the entire team to push relentlessly until we are fighting, and winning, at the front end of this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lando praises himself for winning move | 00:32<\/p>\n
DRIVER MARKET STATE OF PLAY<\/p>\n
Colapinto\u2019s signature narrows the number of realistically available seats to three, though several more remain formally uncommitted.<\/p>\n
Formula 1 2027 driver line-ups<\/p>\n
Mercedes: Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell<\/p>\n
Ferrari: Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc<\/p>\n
McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri<\/p>\n
Red Bull Racing: Max Verstappen (out of contract: Isack Hadjar)<\/p>\n
Racing Bulls: (out of contract: Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad)<\/p>\n
Alpine: Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto<\/p>\n
Haas: Oliver Bearman (out of contract: Esteban Ocon)<\/p>\n
Audi: (out of contract: Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico H\u00fclkenberg)<\/p>\n
Williams: Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon<\/p>\n
Aston Martin: (out of contract: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll)<\/p>\n
Cadillac: Sergio P\u00e9rez and Valtteri Bottas<\/p>\n
Isack Hadjar\u2019s extension can be assumed, with Red Bull Racing boss Laurent Mekies effusive in his praise of the Frenchman in just his second season in Formula 1 and his first with the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has done a fantastic start of the season,\u201d he said. \u201cHe has been stronger and stronger every time he has been driving this car out of the garage, session after session, weekend after weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Audi is also expected to retain both Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico H\u00fclkenberg.<\/p>\n
Lance Stroll\u2019s place at Aston Martin is secure courtesy of his father\u2019s ownership of the team.<\/p>\n
The fate of his teammate, however, isn\u2019t as clear.<\/p>\n
Hamilton EXPLODES at Leclerc & Ferrari | 01:40<\/p>\n
ALONSO CASTS DOUBT ON ASTON DECISION<\/p>\n
Though Fernando Alonso has been widely tipped to remain at Aston Martin, the veteran Spaniard has yet to commit and has missed a self-imposed deadline to do so.<\/p>\n
Speaking earlier this year, Alonso said that \u201caround the summertime or right after the summer [break]\u201d he would need to make a decision, even linking the timing to the annual August Perseids meteor shower.<\/p>\n
But when he arrived back in the paddock in the Netherlands last week, he denied that a decision was due and even claimed that he hadn\u2019t even started thinking about his future yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just came from holiday, so I will see in the next days or weeks or months,\u201d he said, per the F1 website.<\/p>\n
Alonso\u2019s decision is widely believed to hinge on how much progress the team and works engine supplier Honda can make after the partnership\u2019s disastrous start to the new regulations that saw it trailing newcomer Cadillac on pure pace for much of the first half of the campaign.<\/p>\n
A major upgrade package in Hungary, the last race before the break, moved the team significantly forward, but the jury is out on Honda\u2019s new power unit, introduced at the weekend in Zandvoort, owing to driveability issues.<\/p>\n
Honda has suggested it could take several weeks to iron out the problems given the scale of change that has come with this update.<\/p>\n
Alonso new loose timeline would appear to be reflective of that, but the two-time champion said that he would also have to consider whether team owner Lawrence Stroll and team principal Adrian Newey saw value in him continuing to drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be with this team in one role or in another for the long term,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about myself or about who is driving next year or if I\u2019m driving next year or three more years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sitting with Lawrence and with Adrian, and if the need for the team is for me to drive, I will consider, I will be happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can be more valuable in another position, I will consider and I will be happy as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Lawrence is coming this weekend, so I will have a nice lunch with him or coffee and maybe Monza [4\u20136 September] or I don\u2019t know when he is coming next.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will have to go to the factory soon as well to do Madrid simulators, so maybe if Lawrence is around or Adrian, I will sit with them. So maybe in the next weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLaren blunder undoes Piastri magic | 01:33<\/p>\n
TSUNODA: \u2018CALL ME, PLEASE!\u2019<\/p>\n
The other key seat is Esteban Ocon\u2019s drive at Haas.<\/p>\n
The Frenchman has underperformed this season alongside teammate Oliver Bearman, having been overtaken by the rookie Englishman in the second half of last year.<\/p>\n
Haas has been rumoured to have a shortlist of candidates assembled should it pull the trigger on Ocon\u2019s contract \u2014 and his career.<\/p>\n
Speculation suggested Ferrari Formula 2 star Rafael C\u00e2mara is at the top of the list, having surpassed McLaren reserve and reigning F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli.<\/p>\n
Yuki Tsunoda had earlier been connected to the seat, but his name appears to have faded in recent months \u2014 until his shock appearance at the Dutch Grand Prix, where he replaced Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n
Tsunoda acquitted himself well for a driver who had never steered a 2026 car with its highly peculiar hybrid power unit.<\/p>\n
He qualified only two places and 0.102s adrift of teammate Arvid Lindblad and finished ahead of the Briton in the race, albeit Lindblad\u2019s day was compromised by a penalty.<\/p>\n
The surprise cameo may have come at exactly the right time for the personable and marketable Tsunoda.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall me, please!\u201d he joked after assessing his race in a plea to any team with a seat available.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what I can do and I think I pretty much showed what I can do to most of the paddock,\u201d he said, per Autosport.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely better having this opportunity rather than not having any opportunity, so not being able to show what I can do with these regulations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rest is up to my manager and other teams who have not decided yet about next year\u2019s line-up if they want to have me or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside the three primary contenders, reserve drivers Ry\u014d Hirakawa, backed by major sponsor Toyota, and Jack Doohan could also be in the mix.<\/p>\n
Ocon\u2019s axing is not a done deal, however, and even teammate Bearman admitted before the break that the one-sided comparison between them wasn\u2019t fair, having been skewed by chronic parts issues.<\/p>\n
As if to prove that point, Ocon has enjoyed a form uptick in the last two rounds while Bearman has seemingly inexplicably struggled.<\/p>\n
Hulkenberg pulls off epic reflex save | 01:15<\/p>\n
RACING BULLS DECISION LOOMS<\/p>\n
The question of the Racing Bulls line-up is unconnected to the rest of the silly season, with Red Bull supplied with its own junior driver program.<\/p>\n
Though both Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are performing strongly, Red Bull-backed Formula 1 championship leader Nikola Tsolov is making a good case for promotion in the junior series.<\/p>\n
The winner of the Formula 2 championship is not allowed to compete in the series a second time.<\/p>\n
Though Red Bull has previously sent drivers to Japan\u2019s Super Formula as an intermediate step between Formula 2 and Formula 3, Tsolov\u2019s good form could put Lawson in particular under pressure given the New Zealander is the more experienced driver.<\/p>\n
Team chief Peter Bayer, however, played down the chance of a driver change, though he said it was the responsibility of team principal Alan Permane to make the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very happy with both Liam and Arvid and the job they\u2019re doing, so we\u2019re not in a rush,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a good pool of drivers coming up through the junior program. I guess Alan really wants to keep everyone calm, everyone focused, and he will decide when the perfect moment is to inform the drivers and everyone here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked specifically whether having three competitive drivers vying for the seats was a problem, Bayer said: \u201cNo, because, look, as I said before, Arvid and Liam are both doing a fantastic job.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiam is P9 currently in the drivers ranking, and he\u2019s shown great pace in qualifying and in races.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same really goes for Nikola, who\u2019s doing a really, really good job in Formula 2.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, the driver line-up for next year is a decision for Alan to take, and so he will do the best thing for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Franco Colapinto will continue racing for Alpine in 2027 in a deal that further narrows the Formula 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-870631","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\/870631","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=870631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n