ZANDVOORT, Netherlands -- Alpine boss Flavio Briatore has admitted he may have mismanaged Franco Colapinto by placing too much pressure on the Argentine driver this Formula 1 season.
Colapinto has not scored a point since replacing Jack Doohan at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in June.
The Argentine was signed as the team's reserve driver at the start of the year, which had ratcheted up the pressure on Doohan -- evidenced by the Australian's own struggles in the six races he got before being replaced.
Briatore suggested he now views the driver swap as a mistake.
"We changed Doohan with Franco and maybe he has the same problem of too much pressure to be in Formula 1," Briatore said.
"Maybe we put [too] much pressure on him. We need to consider sometimes that the driver is a human being and we need to sometimes understand exactly what's going on in the head of these, because they are young; 19, 20, 22, 23.
"It's our mistake sometimes to underestimate the human part of the driver. We're looking always for the timing. Maybe I missed something there in the management of the driver."
Colapinto's future with Alpine is unclear beyond this season, although he is on loan from Williams and signed to a long-term deal.
Reports ahead of the summer break suggested Alpine might sign Valtteri Bottas to replace him, but the Finnish driver has signed with Cadillac for the 2026 season.
Sources have told ESPN both Bottas and his new 2026 teammate Sergio Pérez spoke with Alpine about the possibility of replacing Colapinto next season, but that Briatore is not yet ready to make a decision on whether to part company with the Argentine.
Colapinto has brought significant financial backing to the team after being catapulted to fame in his homeland thanks to an impressive run of results for Williams last season.
Alpine are bottom of the championship, with its 20 points all scored by Pierre Gasly.
"I think for a driver it's very difficult to cope with this car," Briatore said. "Maybe it was not the [right] timing to have Franco in Formula 1, maybe he needed another year to be part of Formula 1.
"I'm not happy if you look at the results, that's what is important. He tried very hard. We tried very hard with the engineering [team] to please him in everything but really it's not what I expect from Colapinto."