Alpine confirm: Franco Colapinto or Paul Aron to get 2026 Formula 1 seat | OneFootball

Flavio Briatore, executive advisor and the main decision-maker at Alpine, confirmed this Friday that he will choose between Franco Colapinto and Estonian Paul Aron, after considering it "in one or two more races," to form the duo with Pierre Gasly for the 2026 Formula 1 season.

"It's between Franco and Paul," the Italian told The Race, thus dismissing rumors that he might opt for Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda if they left the Red Bull structure. He also assured that he will not go for any emerging talent from Formula 2.

Briatore appreciated Colapinto's progress in recent races. He first explained that "young drivers come to the team with a lot of pressure," and then added that "it's very difficult to manage the car and talk to the engineers" in "a huge team of a thousand people, a great responsibility."

"Perhaps some drivers arrived in F1 too soon," he repeated, but clarified that "after six, seven, or eight races you can see that (Kimi) Antonelli is better, (Gabriel) Bortoleto is better, and now Franco is better."

On the other hand, Aron, a 21-year-old Estonian, drove the A525 of the Argentine in the first practice of the last Italian GP in Monza. During 2025, he worked in the simulator and various tests, including the TPC program (with cars from previous seasons) and the Pirelli tire tests.

"Paul is a good guy and also a very fast driver. And I need to understand what is best for the team. (…) My only interest is to try to incorporate the best available driver who will do the best job with us. It's that simple," Briatore emphasized.

These statements from Briatore suggest that there will be days of great uncertainty regarding Alpine's future second driver. In this context, there is a key point that could work in Colapinto's favor: the excellent chance to prove on the track - and not in the simulator - that he is the best option.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.