Gabriele Mini is satisfied with his performance in Formula 2 this year and hopes this will earn him a Formula 1 opportunity with his sponsor, Alpine
Will Formula 2 driver Gabriele Mini get a Formula 1 opportunity with Alpine in 2027? The French racing team has not yet announced who will fill the second seat alongside Pierre Gasly next season, so speculation continues as to who will get the nod.
Currently, regular driver Franco Colapinto is considered the favorite for the seat, as he has improved significantly following a weak 2025 season. Nevertheless, other drivers are also pushing for their chance, including 21-year-old Gabriele Mini.
The Italian, who is part of Alpine’s junior program, is making his mark in Formula 2 this year and is battling Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov and Ferrari junior Rafael Camara for the championship title.
“Of course, they’re pretty happy and satisfied,” Mini emphasizes to fiaformula2.com regarding the feedback from Alpine. The reward is an increasingly intensive involvement with the team: Mini frequently works in the simulator and was allowed to complete test runs in an older car at Silverstone last month.
More Consistency Than Speed
He may also get some Friday practice sessions this season, as Alpine still needs to field a rookie in the first practice session three more times (see overview). It’s still a long way to a regular Formula 1 seat, but Mini knows he’s on the right track in Formula 2. “If you do well there, you should theoretically have a chance,” he says.
Mini is certainly doing that this season, even though he knows that he and his MP team excel more in consistency than in pure pace: He hasn’t secured a pole position yet this year—Camara, by comparison, has already claimed four—and with two wins to his name, he also trails significantly behind Tsolov’s six.
Nevertheless, he says he’s “pretty satisfied” with his performance so far. “I know that both my team and I are working very hard to find even more pace and to be as consistent as possible in everything.”
Of course, he’s also aware that a strong performance in Formula 2 doesn’t automatically mean a move up to Formula 1. “But the chances are better than if you’re performing poorly.”
On to Formula 1 with the championship title?
He’s also ahead of the other two Alpine junior drivers, Alexander Dunne and Kush Maini, in the championship standings, even though he doesn’t see them as his only rivals: “Theoretically, any driver here could be part of the Alpine roster, but in the end, it still has to be me who wins,” says Mini.
“Even if I were the only young driver Alpine had and I had a bad F2 season, I wouldn’t move up.” In other words: Mini is determined to win the championship title—but he currently trails Tsolov by 20 points.
If he doesn’t make the step up, Mini will have to wait and see what plans his management and Alpine have for him. He himself, however, doesn’t feel under any significant pressure, as he’s had to fight to stay in the sport his entire career.
“There hasn’t been a single year where I could have afforded to be bad. You have to show the necessary speed every year to even earn your spot for the next year,“ he says. ”If I’d had a bad first year in F3, it would have been my very last race ever. I wouldn’t have gotten a second year.”
Mini has overcome these hurdles so far. However, the biggest one on the path to Formula 1 still awaits him.
