Formula 1's 2027 driver market may be about to spring a surprise — and the first hint has come from one of the paddock's most experienced operators. Speaking about Alpine's plans for next season, executive adviser Flavio Briatore chose not to begin with his own drivers at all. His opening answer pointed straight at Mercedes, and at Max Verstappen.
"We don't know what's going to happen with Mercedes," Briatore said. "We don't know if Mercedes will pick up Max or whatever. So let's see what we have in the house before we proceed."
It is a telling order of priorities. Verstappen has been linked with Mercedes repeatedly over the years, and his own intentions for 2027 remain genuinely unclear. Briatore's instinct to address that scenario first — before discussing his current line-up — suggests he regards a move as a live possibility rather than idle speculation.
The knock-on effects would ripple straight down the grid. If Verstappen were to join Mercedes, either George Russell or Kimi Antonelli would have to make way. And a switch to Alpine would carry a certain logic for whichever driver was displaced. The team runs Mercedes engines, it is on an upward trajectory, and in Briatore it has a figure who has never hidden his appetite for the best talent available.
That puts Alpine's current driver situation in a holding pattern. Franco Colapinto has been one of the standout stories of the season, comprehensively out-pacing Pierre Gasly in recent weekends and delivering the team's strongest results of the year. On merit, the Argentine has done more than enough to earn a long-term commitment.
Yet his contract is unlikely to be firmed up until the bigger pieces fall into place — and especially until the Mercedes picture clears. Briatore's reluctance to confirm anything is not a verdict on Colapinto's form. It is a recognition that, in a market potentially reshaped by Verstappen's next decision, it pays to keep options open.
For now, the chain of dominoes is purely hypothetical. Verstappen has made no commitment, Mercedes has made no move, and Alpine has made no offer. But the fact that Briatore is openly framing his own planning around what Mercedes does next is the clearest sign yet that the 2027 silly season could be unusually consequential.
The intrigue is sharpened by the way the front of the grid currently looks. Mercedes has been the dominant force of 2026, with Antonelli having reeled off a remarkable run of wins to lead the championship and Russell providing the experienced counterweight alongside him. On paper, it is hardly a team in need of disruption. Yet the lure of signing Verstappen — and the question of how the team would balance its existing pairing if it did — is exactly the kind of dilemma that drives the market.
That is why Briatore is watching so closely. An Alpine that has clawed its way back into the midfield fight, armed with Mercedes power and a proven appetite for headline signings, would be a natural landing spot for a high-profile driver suddenly out of a seat. Whether that driver is Russell, Antonelli or neither, the team wants to be ready to act the moment the music stops.
Colapinto's task, in the meantime, is simply to keep making himself impossible to drop. The form is there. The patience required is the harder part — because his future, like so much of the 2027 grid, is tied to a decision that only Max Verstappen can make.
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*Originally published on [Newsformula One](https://newsformula.one/article/briatore-verstappen-mercedes-alpine-2027-driver-market). Visit for full coverage.*
