Briatore's self-criticism after Alpine's poor Brazilian GP: "Our performance was below expectations"

Previously, the native of Pilar competed twice at this track. The first was in the 2024 season, when he raced for Williams, where he finished 14th, while the second was last year, already with Alpine, where he crossed the finish line in 15th.

Las Vegas Grand Prix Schedule

Thursday, November 19

FP1: 21:30

The Brazil Grand Prix delivered a result below expectations for Alpine. In a race marked by difficulties in finding rhythm, Franco Colapinto finished in 13th place, while Pierre Gasly also failed to get close to the points zone with his 14th place. After the competition in Interlagos, Flavio Briatore analyzed the team's performance and acknowledged that the performance over the weekend was far from what was expected.

Through the team's official statement, the executive advisor did not hide his dissatisfaction with the result and mainly pointed to the problems they had in handling wet track conditions. "A disappointing finish for a weekend where, overall, our performance was below expectations," he expressed.

In that vein, Briatore acknowledged one of the main aspects to improve. "It is clear that we have work ahead to understand how to get the most out of the car in wet conditions, as it has been one of our weak points this weekend," he stated.

However, the Italian also highlighted that Alpine had shown competitive performance during part of the race. "We were among the fastest on soft tires during the phase of the race when everyone switched to dry tires, but that soon changed when the rain returned," Briatore explained. He added: "We have a lot to analyze as a team before focusing on the next race in Las Vegas."

Finally, the advisor of the French team congratulated Mercedes for winning the Constructors' Championship, achieving their ninth crown in the category and re-establishing themselves after five seasons. "Finally, congratulations to Toto [Wolff] and Mercedes for winning the Constructors' Championship after an impressive and dominant season," he concluded.

Colapinto explained Alpine's difficulties in Brazil and set his sights on Las Vegas

For his part, the Argentine driver agreed that track conditions complicated the team's performance throughout the competition. "It has been a complicated race for us, especially due to the weather conditions, which made driving quite a challenge," he noted in the statement.

The driver from Pilar explained that the tire strategy was one of the determining factors of the day. "We started with intermediate tires and then it was about calculating the right moment to switch to softs, which was not an easy decision, as the grip levels were quite low. I stayed focused on managing the race and the tires, but then, after having performance issues, we had to pit again to put on the softs. Shortly after, it started to rain and we went back to intermediates," he detailed.

One of the aspects that most affected the result was the pace of the A526 with the intermediate tires. In this regard, the Argentine commented: "Our pace with the intermediates was not very good and that hurt us today; I know the team is analyzing why we struggled so much on Saturday and Sunday in wet conditions," he stated.

Despite the complications and his final result, Colapinto valued some of the battles he had during the race. "It has been a busy race, we had some good battles on track, which were fun," he assured.

Finally, the Buenos Aires native anticipated Alpine's plans before heading to the United States. "We will do an analysis as a team before heading to Las Vegas, where we hope the conditions will favor us more and we can be in better shape to fight for points," he concluded.

When will Colapinto race again

After a challenging American tour, the Argentine driver will have a week of rest before returning to the United States for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Action on the street circuit in Nevada will kick off on Thursday, November 19 with the first free practice and will conclude in the early hours of Sunday, November 22.