Colapinto praised by Briatore for ‘strongest race of the season’ after just missing out on points at Zandvoort

Franco Colapinto has earned praise from Flavio Briatore after narrowly missing out on a points finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, with the Alpine chief calling it “probably his strongest” performance of the season so far.

Going into the weekend, Briatore made headlines by declaring that he was “not happy” with Colapinto’s results since the Argentinian took over from Jack Doohan at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix – having so far failed to score.

However, Zandvoort brought more encouraging signs from the F2 race winner, who made his F1 debut as a Williams substitute driver last season before being released to join Alpine over the winter, initially as a test and reserve driver.

Having run experienced team mate Pierre Gasly close in Qualifying, Colapinto used softer starting tyres to move ahead of the Frenchman early in the race, before adhering to team orders and letting him back through when their strategies played out.

In an encounter full of incidents and Safety Cars, and amid battling displays from both drivers, Alpine split their approach for the final restart by giving Colapinto fresh tyres and leaving Gasly out on old rubber.

Colapinto duly hounded the midfield runners ahead and ultimately fell just half a second short of overhauling Haas rival Esteban Ocon for 10th place, while Gasly lost ground and crossed the line in 17th position.

“Starting from outside the points, we took some risks throughout to try and maximise our chances to score,” said Briatore in his post-race assessment, before noting that “with Franco, he drove a very good race, probably his strongest this season so far”.

Colapinto himself added: “We were very close to securing some points as a team today. It was a race where we had to be alert and ready to capture any opportunity. I felt I drove well and, at the flag, [scored] my best finish of the season.

“As a team there are some parts of the race we will assess to see what we could have done better. We made a call at the end to pit for softs during the final Safety Car to try and attack cars ahead towards the points. We were very close but just [fell] short at the end.

“There are many positives to take from the weekend. We had an improved performance in Qualifying, I feel more things on my side are coming together and I look forward to returning to Monza next weekend, the venue of my F1 debut last year.”