Formula 1: Briatore congratulated Franco Colapinto and launched a self-criticism

The Formula 1 had its most glamorous event next weekend with the eighth date of the calendar at the urban circuit of Monaco. The Alpine team experienced a bittersweet day, as Pierre Gasly  retired in the early laps after a collision with Yuki Tsunoda, meanwhile Franco Colapinto  finished 13th after starting from the back of the grid.

Once the race was over, Alpine's executive advisor, Flavio Briatore, shared his analysis of the team's performance and its drivers.

"Given our starting positions, it was always going to be a difficult task. With Pierre, we wanted to try something different, pit early and see what opportunities presented themselves. Then he had an incident with Tsunoda and that was the end of Pierre's race. As we saw, other teams played with interesting strategies," explained the Italian, referring to Gasly's early retirement.

Meanwhile, he positively valued Colapinto's performance, who completed his second official race in the top category with the French team. "Franco did a good job, made no mistakes, maintained a good pace, and behaved well in traffic, and I'm sure he learned a lot and gained more confidence," he highlighted.

However, Briatore was clear in pointing out the team's main problem: "Fundamentally, we are not fast enough. We will see it in Spain, on a more complete circuit with some intrigue around the new wings. We'll see how we do," he concluded, referring to the upcoming improvements planned for the Spanish Grand Prix.

With this outlook, Alpine will seek to make a performance leap in Barcelona, where the new improvements could mark a turning point in a season that has been uphill so far.