F1 legend drops one-word reaction to Flavio Briatore's post with the 4 Alpine drivers

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has reacted to Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore's instagram post in which he can be seen with the team's drivers group, including the reserve drivers. The Italian shared the post on Friday, before the first practice session of the season kicked off at Melbourne, Australia.

Alpine have shuffled their driver lineup heading into the 2025 season, as Pierre Gasly is now partnered by rookie Jack Doohan. Esteban Ocon has made the move over to Haas after falling out of favor with the management team at Enstone last season.

But not only do Alpine have a new driver lineup but they have also stacked up their driver group with four reserve drivers. Franco Colapinto, Ryo Hirakawa, Paul Aron and Kush Maini are all waiting in the wings to potentially fill in if need be, and some of them may also be in contention for a race seat in the future.

Colapinto and Hirakawa have joined the team in Australia, alongside permanent drivers, for the opening weekend of the 2025 season. Alpine boss Flavio Briatore posted a picture of him with all four drivers on instagram with the caption:

"Great to be joined with Jack, Pierre, Ryō and Franco ahead of another exciting F1 season."

F1 legend Damon Hill reposted this on his instagram story and shared a simple one word reaction, poking fun at the Italian's demeanour.

"Rascal", wrote Hill.

Screen grab of Damon Hill's instagram story [via instagram/@96f1champ]

Briatore seems to be the center of attention in the image, with all the drivers gathered around him, as they seem to be sharing a laugh at whatever the Italian is showing them on his phone. The charismatic and controversial figure has made his comeback to F1, and is surely going to be one of the main figures within the paddock in 2025.

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Kush Maini was announced as Alpine F1 Team's Test and Reserve Driver on Tuesday

Kush Maini at the 2024 F2 championship Round 1 at Melbourne - Source: Getty

Alpine added yet another driver to their F1 roster as they annouced Kush Maini as their Test and Reserve Driver on Tuesday. This made him the fourth reserve driver and the sixth driver at the team overall.

Maini has been part of the Alpine Driver Academy since 2023, and has now been given an extended role as one of their Reserve and Test drivers, as announced on March 11 via social media.

"Kush Maini. 2025 Test and Reserve Driver 👌

We’re delighted to announce, our Alpine Academy driver extends his role to join our pool of Test and Reserve Drivers for the 2025 season."

Reports suggest that Maini will be utilized more for doing work on the simulators and testing, and it is unknown whether the Indian driver will be given any track time at all, given there are already three reserve drivers ahead of him on the team.

Other reports have also suggested that adding the 24-year-old to the roster may be a play by Briatore to invite more financial backing from Indian companies, who are pushing to get an Indian driver on the F1 grid. [via Autosport]

Currently, Maini is set to compete in his third full season of F2 after switching over to DAMS, following a disappointing 2024 season with Invicta Racing.