The president of a prominent sponsor of Franco Colapinto was caught on microphone hinting at when the Argentinean may return to Formula 1.

With Colapinto sitting on the sidelines as Alpine’s reserve driver this season, one of his sponsors was caught on microphone suggesting the Argentinean could be behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car at next month’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

YPF President hints at Franco Colapinto’s return

Amongst the roster of Colapinto’s personal sponsor list is Argentinean energy giant YPF, whose CEO Horacio Marin appeared on news channel A24 with Eduardo Feinmann in the run-up to the Miami Grand Prix.

The interviewer attempted to coax information out of Marin regarding Colapinto’s possible return to the cockpit, with speculation having abounded since his signing that Alpine may look to replace Jack Doohan with the highly-rated Argentinean driver at some point this season.

Marin was visibly uncomfortable as he was asked questions about the possibility of Colapinto’s debut with Alpine and concluded the interview by saying he “didn’t know” but, after the channel had cut away to a commercial break, Marin could be heard on the microphone leaning in to tell Feinmann “in Imola”.

However, it must be pointed out that rumours regarding Colapinto’s replacement of Doohan have been continuous over the last four months and, with Marin being no stranger to interviews and microphones, the moment could have been an intentional placing of increased speculation.

Colapinto’s run of races as a replacement for Logan Sargeant at Williams means he is no longer eligible for the rookie running all teams must hand over to junior drivers this season suggesting that, if Marin’s comments are accurate and Colapinto is to drive at Imola, it would likely be as a full-time driver – although there is nothing to stop Alpine from giving him an FP1 session, regardless of the rookie running requirement.

Aside from confirming that Doohan would start the season with the Enstone-based squad, neither team boss Oli Oakes nor Renault executive advisor Flavio Briatore have completely stamped out the possibility of a driver swap.

Doohan, who made his debut in F1 this year, has raced under the tremendous pressure of a lack of public assurance over his season and is yet to score a point in the first five races of the year.

However, Alpine’s form has been sporadic, with the A525 only scoring points in the Bahrain Grand Prix as Pierre Gasly came home in seventh place.

Since the start of the season, speculation has abounded that Doohan was only assured of the first quarter of the championship, with this window of opportunity rumoured as increasing to the summer break as Doohan has shown clear improvement during his first five race weekends.

Oakes told the media, including PlanetF1.com, in Saudi Arabia that he was happy with the Australian driver’s progress.

“He’s done a good job this weekend,” he said.

“And I think in general, I know Japan FP caught him out a bit, but I think this weekend, particularly throughout qualifying – sort of Q1, first run of Q2, I think the last run in Q2 is a little bit disappointing because I think it was just half a tenth.

“But then in the race as well, those first two stints, he was doing a really good job. I think at the end there, I think it was tricky. The Safety Car bumps everyone up, competitiveness-wise, it was hard with those cars around.

“But he’s had a good weekend.”

Should the latest speculated deadline of the summer break for Doohan prove to be correct, the 22-year-old has nine races in which to prove himself to Alpine.

There is also no guarantee that Colapinto is the first in line to replace Doohan if such a call is made.

Alpine has two reserve drivers knocking on the door in Colapinto and Paul Aron, with both the Argentinean and the Estonian set loose for a day of TPC running at Monza earlier this month.

PlanetF1.com understands that Aron’s performance, especially in light of his minimal F1 running, impressed Alpine, with the highly-rated Aron set to carry out FP1 appearances for the team this year.

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