Alpine have announced that Franco Colapinto will make his official debut for the French team at the Imola GP, as Jack Doohan’s F1 journey with them has come to an early end. The 21-year-old will find himself behind the wheel of the A525 for at least the next five races.
Doohan only made his F1 debut in Abu Dhabi last year after Alpine decided to part ways with Esteban Ocon a race early. However, his long-time future in the team had always been at risk, with executive advisor Flavio Briatore keen to secure the services of the Argentine driver.
As reported by Pit Debrief back in January, Doohan faced a six-race audition to avoid getting axed by Alpine. 2024 Williams stand-in Colapinto officially joined the team the same month, significantly intensifying the pressure as the Australian embarked on his rookie F1 campaign.
Doohan’s short journey in F1 so far: Too much action, too little impact
Alpine’s decision to promote Franco Colapinto ahead of the F1 Imola GP has arrived despite Jack Doohan outqualifying seasoned teammate Pierre Gasly for the first time in a Grand Prix qualifying last weekend. Unfortunately, he retired from Sunday’s Miami GP following a first-corner collision with Liam Lawson. The 22-year-old was also the faster driver in qualifying for the Sprint race in China.
Although he showed flashes of strong pace at times, Doohan’s standing in the team was considerably undermined by the series of incidents he was involved in within the span of six races. Whilst the tricky A525 certainly didn’t make his graduation to the pinnacle of motorsport easier, he failed to score a single point during his short stint with Alpine.
After badly damaging his car on the first lap of the rain-affected season opener in Australia, Doohan suffered a heavy crash on his flying lap during the second hour of practice at the Japanese GP. His best result to date is an underwhelming thirteenth-place finish at the Chinese GP, which he registered after receiving a 10-second penalty post-race for forcing Isack Hadjar off track.
Despite the demotion, Jack Doohan will remain involved with Alpine F1 in a first-choice reserve driver capacity in the meantime.
Following the announcement, Doohan commented:
“I am very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional Formula One driver and I will forever be grateful to the team for helping me achieve this dream.
“Obviously, this latest chapter is a tough one for me to take because, as a professional driver, naturally I want to be racing.
“That said, I appreciate the team’s trust and commitment. We have long-term goals as a team to achieve, and I will continue to give my maximum efforts in any way I can to help achieve those.
“For now, I will keep my head down, keep working hard, watch with interest the next five races and keep chasing my own personal goals.”
Second lifeline for Colapinto: Will have to do the talking on track
Franco Colapinto donned the Williams race suit for nine races in 2024 after they dropped Logan Sargeant ahead of the Italian GP. With Carlos Sainz set to partner Alex Albon in 2025 and beyond, a full-time F1 seat at the Grove-based team was unfortunately never on the cards for the Argentine driver.
Colapinto turned the heads of many by scoring points twice in his first four race weekends last year. However, the momentum he built in Baku and Austin was fleeting. His reputation suffered a blow following his heavy crashes at the São Paulo GP—in qualifying and the race—and in qualifying for the Las Vegas GP. The 21-year-old also crashed during practice in Azerbaijan before scoring his maiden F1 points in the race.
With his F1 future uncertain at the end of 2024, Colapinto signed a multi-year agreement with Alpine in January and joined their 2025 roster as a test and reserve driver. However, with Briatore emphatically endorsing him and describing him as one of the team’s “most important assets,” the young Argentine’s promotion was nothing but a matter of time.
Franco Colapinto took part in a TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) session last month, clearly gearing up for his imminent debut for Alpine at the F1 Imola GP. While he will drive alongside Gasly for the next five races, the French outfit will evaluate his performance ahead of the British GP in July and determine the next course of action for the remainder of 2025.
A grateful Colapinto said:
“Firstly, I want to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to drive competitively for the next five races.
“I will work hard with the team to prepare for the next race in Imola and the upcoming triple-header, which will no doubt be intense and a big challenge for everyone.
“I have stayed sharp, and I am as ready as possible with the team’s race support testing programme, as well as on the simulator at Enstone; I will do my best to get up to speed quickly and give it my all to deliver the best possible results alongside Pierre.”
Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s executive advisor and de facto team principal, stated:
“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.”
With Paul Aron and Kush Maini waiting in the sidelines, Alpine certainly have multiple cards to play if their latest gamble doesn’t pan out!
