Under pressure to retain his seat as he now drives for Alpine on a race-by-race basis, Franco Colapinto isn’t worried as he says Flavio Briatore “trusts his decision”.

Six races into the F1 2025 season, Alpine made the decision to drop Jack Doohan in favour of Colapinto.

Will Franco Colapinto see out the F1 2025 season with Alpine?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Last year’s super-sub, Alpine announced that Colapinto would have “the next five races” only for Briatore to later state that Colapinto would race “as much as needed” as “there’s no set limit on his races”.

He did, however, give the driver a three-point plan.

“He needs to be fast, not crash, and score points,” he told Sky Italia. “I’m only asking him these three things — not 10. If he does them well, he’ll drive forever.”

The 22-year-old has not met any of those targets, even crashing in his debut weekend as he binned the A525 in qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

His most recent performance, a P14 in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix before losing a place in the race, earned Briatore’s ire.

“Clearly, the car was good enough for Q3, but we are still lacking having two cars up where they should be,” said the de facto Alpine team principal.

“Franco was through Q1 but too far away to reach Q3, which we need to improve if we are to put ourselves in a more competitive position with both cars.”

Dropping 16 points behind Sauber in the battle to avoid the F1 2025 season’s wooden spoon, the Italian added: “Ultimately, we have lost ground to our direct rivals in the Championship after another race without scoring points and, frankly, this level of performance is increasingly concerning.”

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

???? The results of the F1 2025 championship

???? The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Alpine’s struggles have led to speculation that Valtteri Bottas, a 10-time Grand Prix winner and Mercedes’ current reserve driver, could step in before the season is over.

According to reports, Briatore has already held talks with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff on Bottas’ availability.

The Argetine, though, insists he’s not worried as Briatore “trusts” he made the right decision when he put Colapinto in the car in Doohan’s stead.

“I’m not really concerned,” Colapinto told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “He has been very supportive and he trusts in the decision he made.”

When asked whether he had held talks with Briatore, Colapinto replied: “Yes, every day.”

Alpine have managed just three top ten results this season, all scored by Pierre Gasly, while Colapinto’s best result had been a pair of P13s.

“I think as a team, I and the team are focusing as well on improving the car,” he said. “We looked a bit weak [at the Red Bull Ring], and we need to take some steps forward.

“The car has been a bit tricky to drive — not very consistent. It’s quick, but the reactivity didn’t give me that confidence that I needed to push in the high speed here. It was a tough weekend.

“Overall, we made some steps forward, but something didn’t click.”

Read next: Why Valtteri Bottas is the perfect fit for Cadillac, and Alpine