Franco Colapinto says replacing another Formula 1 driver during the season is “never nice circumstances” and he doesn’t believe his five-race deal with Alpine is long enough.

Alpine team leader Flavio Briatore has contradicted his own squad’s announcement that Franco Colapinto had been promoted to a race seat for the next five Formula 1 rounds from this weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

The 75-year-old Italian cannot be team principal because “he is not a member of staff, and does not hold an F1 licence, as is required of people in such authority by the FIA’s competitor’s staff registration system”, BBC Sport report.