While the Alpine stable veges in the last place of the manufacturer’s championship and faced with the lack of results from Franco Colapinto, Flavio Briatore would consider attracting Valtteri Bottas, current reservist at Mercedes, with the hope of going to seek valuable points.
Valtteri Bottas may not wait until 2026. While his name circulates around the future Cadillac stable for a job position next season, the Finnish pilot would be close to making a thunderous return to the starting grid of Formula 1. Indeed, according to information from the special site The raceFlavio Briatore has already contacted Mercedes about a possible availability of the one who is currently the third pilot of the Brackley based training.
The Italian businessman and Toto Wolff would have maintained himself for around thirty minutes this Friday in the Paddock of the Red Bull Ring and the subject Valtteri Bottas would have been mentioned. If it is not yet a question of an agreement between Alpine and Mercedes, which will be linked by an engine supply contract from next season, this gives an indication of the perception by the leaders of Alpine of Franco Colapinto’s performance since he took Jack Doohan’s bucket during the Emilie-Romagne Grand Prix, in Imola. Indeed, the results of the Argentinian pilot do not argue for him.
Coachapinto less and less up to expectations
Its best result remains a 13th place in Monaco and then in Canada. “The car clearly had the potential for the Q3, but we have not yet put both where they should be,” said Flavio Briatore in the face of journalists after the Austrian Grand Prix this Sunday. Franco passed the Q1, but he was too far from the Q3. To be frank, this level of performance is always more worrying. Like his predecessor, the Argentinian pilot has not brought the slightest point to the Alpine stable. The latter can only count on the eleven units brought by Pierre Gasly, which is synonymous with the last place in the manufacturers’ classification after eleven Grands Prix.
To this is added the boost of Sauber thanks to Nico Hülkenberg, who scored points in the last three Grands Prix with in particular a fifth place in Spain, when Gabriel Bortoleto unlocked his counter in Austria. The Swiss team, which will become Audi next year, is now fifteen points ahead of Alpine. A gap that could become a chasm without a reaction, both in terms of the development of the single -seater as of the performance of the pilot duo.
