After months of speculation, Franco Colapinto replaces Jack Doohan at Alpine. The 21-year-old returns to F1 after his late-season stint with Williams last year.
This news is not necessarily a surprise, given that Doohan’s position at Alpine has always been precarious.
Still, seeing a driver lose their seat in such abrupt fashion is very unusual in modern F1.
Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s Executive Advisor and acting Team Principal, has explained the decision.
Briatore justifies swapping Doohan with Colapinto after six rounds
It was only six months ago that Alpine replaced Esteban Ocon (who spent half a decade with the team) with Jack Doohan for the Abu Dhabi GP.
The team’s decision to replace Ocon in such circumstances was evidence of Briatore’s cut-throat driver approach.
In theory, Oliver Oakes became team principal last season.
However, for all intents and purposes, it is Briatore who has been the main authority on Alpine’s driver line-up.
Oakes’ recent resignation seems a clear indication of his disagreement with the 74-year-old’s decision to swap Doohan and Colapinto.
Regardless, Briatore decided to pull the trigger and replace Doohan with Colapinto after just six races.
In a team statement, the Executive Advisor explained his driver swap:
“Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races.
“With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up.
“We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year.
“We continue to support Jack at the team, as he has acted in a very professional manner in his role as a race driver so far this season.
“The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.”
Alpine have other options
The nature of Colapinto’s contract has been covered extensively in LWOS over recent months.
When Alpine signed Colapinto as reserve driver in January, it came at the expense of tens of millions – which were necessary to break the Argentine from his Williams contract.
They signed a multi-year deal with the Argentine, signalling Briatore’s intention to having him at the centre of his project.
Inevitably, this created immense project on Doohan – whose chances of finishing the year at Alpine were always limited.
Whilst Colapinto is the beneficiary of this latest sequence, his place is not necessarily guaranteed either.
He is only guaranteed a seat for the next five races, which automatically puts the pressure on him to deliver.
Considering his performances against Alex Albon last year, there is no reason he cannot quickly adapt to the A525.
Still, he also drives in the knowledge that Alpine have other reserve driver waiting in the wings.
Paul Aron is among them, with the Estonian participating in an Alpine TPC test alongside Colapinto last month.
Beyond Alpine’s pool of reserve drivers, there is always the chance that another option peaks Briatore’s interest.
Over the coming months, the Enstone outfit’s driver situation will likely continue to evolve.
