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Alpine F1 racer Franco Colapinto has credited his boss, Flavio Briatore, for making him mentally tough through his tough approach while running the French team. The 22-year-old also said that he believes that the Italian chief will take the team back to the top of the F1 world.
Flavio Briatore returned to team Enstone in 2024 as Executive advisor to the Renault-owned Alpine F1 team. The 75-year-old is now majorly responsible for calling the shots at the team, and is also the de facto team principal at the moment, ever since Oliver Oakes left in May.
His attacking approach has already been highlighted at Alpine, especially when he fired Jack Doohan after just six outings this year. He has also been pivotal at times for the Aussie's replacement, Franco Colapinto, who has also struggled for finding form this season.
But Colapinto has backed Briatore's management style, giving him credit for making him mentally strong.
Speaking on F1's Beyond the Grid podcast recently, the former Williams racer revealed that he has a healthy relationship with Briatore, before saying:
"He [Briatore] is hard with everyone, and his way of making the team work and making people motivated can be very hard, and sometimes it can feel a little bit too much if you don’t know him."
"But, he is a person and someone I really believe in and someone that I believe is going to move this team forward, and he’s going to put Alpine back at the top. So, I learned a lot from him this year. He made me a lot stronger, mentally."
Colapinto also added that a tough season like 2025 is necessary to go through to one day to be able to compete at the top of F1. He also expressed his happiness to Briatore for giving him a chance at Alpine.
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