Franco Colapinto addresses Alpine exit speculation after British GP qualifying crash

Franco Colapinto crashed out of qualifying at Silverstone

Franco Colapinto crashed out of Q1 of qualifying for the British Grand Prix. Despite this, the Argentine has confirmed that he is "not very concerned" about his future with the team amid rumours of his replacement.

With eight minutes remaining of Q1 at Silverstone, Colapinto suffered a spin, veering off track and into the barriers. Although he initially managed to drive out of the wall, limping back to the pits, he stopped at the exit of Copse corner. As a result, the red flag was waved.

Colapinto discussed the crash with Motorsport.com and other media following his early exit from qualifying.

"Yeah, I just lost the rear in the last corner. I was going on power and I clipped the wall. Yeah, it was a pity, I think. I'm still struggling quite a lot, but there was definitely something we could have done."

When asked if he was told by the Alpine team to stop rather than get back to the pits, he confirmed, "Yeah, yeah. To stop out of turn one. So, a bit of a pity.

"Not a good quali from my side. We found a lot of things, I think, this weekend to make me feel a bit better with the car, closer to Pierre, but of course, you know, we are still far. We need to do a couple of steps for the next couple of races."

Colapinto replaced rookie driver Jack Doohan at the French team in May from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The press release from Alpine at the time stated that he would be in the car for at least the next five races. However, Flavio Briatore later confirmed that Colapinto's position with the team was open-ended.

Franco Colapinto, Alpine

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Naturally, with the British Grand Prix being his sixth race weekend with the team, Colapinto was quizzed on whether he had any concerns about not being in the car for the Belgian Grand Prix on 25-27 July.

"I'm not very concerned. Of course, there is always talks. I just need to keep working and trying to help the team to improve the car. Today was not ideal. I think we did some good steps, but definitely not what we wanted."

At this stage, the 22-year-old driver is set to start the British Grand Prix from 20th on the grid. However, Haas' Oliver Bearman has been hit with a ten-place grid penalty, which could promote the Alpine driver to 19th.