Franco Colapinto will be on standby for Alpine at the first two races of the F1 2025 season in Australia and China, PlanetF1.com understands.

Following an impressive cameo for Williams in the second half of last season, Colapinto joined Alpine as the team’s reserve driver in January.

PF1 sources: Franco Colapinto on standby for Alpine at Australian Grand Prix

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The Argentine heads a portfolio of reserve drivers at Alpine, who also have Estonia’s Paul Aron and the Toyota-backed Japanese star Ryo Hirakawa on their books.

Colapinto scored points in two of his first four appearances for Williams after replacing Logan Sargeant ahead of last year’s Italian Grand Prix, attracting interest from a number of teams.

With Williams already committed to fielding Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon for F1 2025, team principal James Vowles described Colapinto’s move to Alpine as his “best chance” of returning to a race seat, potentially as soon as this season.

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It has sparked speculation that Colapinto could replace Jack Doohan at some stage during the F1 2025 campaign, with Doohan’s contract widely reported to cover only the first few races of the season.

PlanetF1.com understands that Doohan’s continued participation will be based on performance, as is the case with every other driver on the grid.

After making his F1 debut one race early at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Doohan will start the new season as Pierre Gasly’s team-mate at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

And PlanetF1.com has learned that Colapinto will also be in attendance in Melbourne with the 21-year-old poised to be on site as Alpine’s reserve driver.

It is believed that Colapinto will be present at both the Australian GP and next weekend’s race in China, with Aron assisting Alpine’s efforts with simulator work at the team’s Enstone factory.

Colapinto and Aron are then expected to swap roles for the following rounds as Alpine alternate their reserve drivers.

Alpine confirmed in January that Hirakawa will participate in the opening practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, the third race of the F1 2025 season.

Hirakawa, who won the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours race with Toyota in 2022, made his first FP1 appearance for McLaren at last year’s Abu Dhabi GP before representing Haas in the 2024 post-season test four days later.

The 31-year-old’s Haas outing came after the American team struck a technical partnership with Toyota as the Japanese manufacturer evaluates a potential return to F1.

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Flavio Briatore, the Alpine executive adviser who is also believed to act as Doohan’s manager, has refused to silence speculation that the Australian rookie could be replaced by Colapinto at some stage.

A report last week claimed that Briatore simply looked at his watch after being asked to when Doohan’s “time will run out” during the recent pre-season test in Bahrain.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at last month’s season-launch event in London, Doohan claimed that he has been reassured that Colapinto is Alpine’s reserve driver.

Briatore recently insisted that he is “not a killer” and is simply looking for the strongest possible driver lineup for Alpine going forward.

He said: “I try to make sure the team has the best possible drivers. If it’s Colapinto, Jack, Paul, I don’t care.

Asked if Doohan’s season will be limited to the first five races, he replied: “No, no. It will be more than five…I’m joking.

“We will see. First, let’s start the season.

“Gasly did a super job last year. I didn’t know him [before I arrived], but he did five or six fantastic final races. And it was positive to put Jack in Abu Dhabi to give him one more race of experience.

“I’m not a killer, I just want to have the best drivers possible.”

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