F1 Teams Advised to Stay Away From Franco Colapinto Because of “Extra Nonsense”

Franco Colapinto of Argentina and the Alpine F1 team walks in the paddock during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park

Red Bull had a dismal outing at the Bahrain GP, and the rumor mills are churning again about Max Verstappen eyeing an exit from the Milton Keynes-based team. However, amidst all the speculation about the reigning world champion’s struggles with the RB21, and the team’s inability to find a fix, particularly after the departure of Adrian Newey. But all that buzz has served to take the limelight away from a driver change that might actually happen.

No, not at Red Bull. Ever since the season started, the situation within Alpine has also been generating a lot of murmurs, from within the paddock and outside it. An underwhelming debut for Jack Doohan has only served to up the noise level around their reserve driver, Franco Colapinto.

The Argentine youngster burst onto the F1 scene with Williams last season. Given his undeniable pace and talent, the Enstone-based team signed him up as a reserve driver. Now, if the rumors are to be believed, he is on his way to securing a seat with Alpine at the expense of the misfiring Doohan.

Alpine, majority-owned by Renault, has categorically denied any intention to conduct a mid-season swap between the two drivers. But it seems as though the rumors of a swap are being propagated from inside the Colapinto camp itself.

Now, ESPN’s Katie George suggests that while someone like Verstappen can afford to stir the rumor mill, a newbie like Colapinto trying to do the same thing will be a red flag for other teams.

“I don’t know if your actions right now and your camp’s actions would make a team jump to get you. I just think that that’s a lot of extra nonsense that I don’t want to deal with if I’m a team principal,” she explained on the Unlapped podcast.

George pointed out that as a reserve driver, Colapinto simply does not have the kind of standing to stir up the driver market. Moreover, when individuals like Colapinto’s father — who controversially posted about his son racing at the Miami GP before deleting it — jump on the bandwagon, it only worsens the atmosphere within the team.

The biggest criticism of the situation for George is the fact that these tactics only make the team principal’s job harder, since it’s the team head who has to answer the press. So any team would think twice before onboarding someone like Colapinto (and his noisy entourage), who is yet to become a grid regular, let alone having any concrete achievements under his belt..

Post Edited By: Nidhi
Alpine Franco Colapinto

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Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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