At the beginning of the 2024 F1 season, Franco Colapinto was preparing for his first full season racing in Formula 2.
Franco Colapinto had made a cameo appearance for MP Motorsport at the end of the 2023 F2 campaign but was going into last year knowing he had to try and establish himself as Williams’ best junior driver.
He was in competition with Zak O’Sullivan and despite the young Brit winning a thrilling feature race, Colapinto was given the nod when Logan Sargeant was deemed to be surplus to requirements by team principal James Vowles for the final nine races of the 2024 campaign.
Colapinto defied many people’s expectations, scoring points in Baku and Austin and keeping his teammate Alex Albon on his toes.
However, Williams had already signed Carlos Sainz to join Albon for 2025, meaning Colapinto wasn’t going to earn a race seat with the Grove-based team no matter how well he performed.
Red Bull were interested in Colapinto briefly before heavy crashes at Sao Paulo and Las Vegas saw him dropped from the equation as they tried to work out what to do with Sergio Perez.
However, Alpine were also keen on Colapinto and while they confirmed Pierre Gasly and rookie Jack Doohan as their drivers for 2025, that interest never dried up.
Colapinto’s move to Alpine has now been confirmed, and a report from Autoracer suggests that the French team have already made one promise to the Argentine before a wheel has been turned in anger in pre-season ahead of the upcoming season.
Alpine have made Franco Colapinto ‘promise’ after signing him from Williams
Colapinto brought a serious amount of sponsorship for Williams last year and it’s likely that Alpine are going to benefit from that interest as well.
Williams and Alpine have come to an arrangement over Colapinto’s sponsors, suggesting that Vowles and his team might still be benefiting from the 21-year-old even if he’s not on their books anymore.
Colapinto knew he needed to move on from Williams if he stood a chance of racing in Formula 1 in the next two years.
Flavio Briatore recognised his potential and desire to move on and acted swiftly to add him to Alpine’s impressive roster of drivers.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage
He and team principal Oliver Oakes held various meetings with Colapinto’s representatives and finally agreed a deal in the past few weeks.
The report from Autoracer believes that Alpine made one ‘promise’ to Colapinto as part of his new contract as their reserve driver.
They believe that Alpine have to put Colapinto in the second Alpine should Doohan fail to prove himself.
Given Alpine could call on the likes of Ryo Harikawa and Paul Aron to call upon, it’s no wonder the Argentine wanted assurances that he would be next in line, which is just as well given what’s been said about Doohan’s F1 contract.
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Talking about Colapinto’s move to Alpine, Williams boss Vowles said, via the site’s official website: “Williams has one of the most formidable driver line-ups on the grid for 2025 and beyond in Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, so we believe this agreement with Alpine represents Franco’s best chance of securing a race seat in 2025 or 2026.
“The Williams Racing Driver Academy exists to discover and develop the F1 stars of the future which is exactly what it has done in Franco’s case, and builds on our long tradition of giving talented young drivers their break at the top level of motorsport.
“We are proud to have returned Argentina to the F1 grid, want to thank Franco for everything he has brought to the team and look forward to future battles on track.”
READ MORE: Who is Alpine reserve driver Franco Colapinto? Everything to know
Colapinto will be keeping a very close eye on Doohan’s performances at the start of the season as he appears to be F1’s most under-pressure driver despite only taking part in one Grand Prix thus far.
Doohan’s contract may run for just six races, meaning every session will count for the Australian.
Everyone within the Enstone-based team will want the 21-year-old to succeed and Alpine won’t be able to drop Doohan if he meets certain performance targets.
But Briatore has never been shy of making abrupt changes to driver line-ups and Colapinto’s presence feels like a ticking time bomb for Doohan already.
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