Maria Catarineuone of the representatives of Franco Colapintogave details about the transfer of the Argentine to the team Alpine and revealed that he was loaned for five years to continue in the Formula 1.
In dialogue with Jorge Magistris for the Heart of Formula 1 program, Catarineu said that the contract with Alpine was signed on December 24 in the afternoon and detailed: “Williams loaned Franco for five years to Alpine. It is a possibility that he returns when his loan ends, but in five years anything can happen”.
On the other hand, he avoided giving details about the amount for which the operation was carried out between both teams.
Catarineu also referred to the frustrated arrival of Colapinto to Red Bullwhere he could have been a teammate of the four-time champion, the Dutchman Max Verstappen: “Christian (Horner, the team boss) showed interest in Franco, which could be on the part of Red Bull as Max’s teammate or on the part of the second team (Racing Bulls )”.
Meanwhile, he clarified that “What happened is that then the Red Bull route, for different reasons, couldn’t happen. It didn’t work out”.
In turn, he confirmed that Horner’s visit to James Vowles (Williams team boss) during the Brazilian Grand Prix “was to understand what Franco’s situation was at Williams.”
A key figure for Colapinto’s arrival at Alpine was the Italian Flavio Briatoresports advisor to the French team. “He was always present. He was the first interested party, more or less at the same time as Red Bull,” Catarineu stressed.
Colapinto’s arrival at Alpine opens up new possibilities for him to return to Formula 1 as an official driver, since he will have more chances of moving up than in Williams, a team whose starters are the Thai Alexander Albon and the Spanish Carlos Sainz Jr., both with several years of experience.
The Pilar native will be a reserve driver in his new team, although he could replace the Australian Jack Doohan after five Grands Prix, who would not be even close to being a weakness for Briatore, in case he does not obtain the desired results.
Source: Ambito
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