What ‘sources’ are now saying Franco Colapinto’s five-race deal will immediately bring to Alpine

Alpine has finally announced that Franco Colapinto will replace Jack Doohan after months of speculation surrounding the Australian.

Doohan began the 2025 season with questions around his seat, after Alpine signed Colapinto from Williams as part of their reserve pool of drivers in January.

Williams team principal James Vowles said the move was Colapinto’s “best opportunity” to earn a seat on the grid, fuelling speculation that he could replace Doohan in the early stages of the season.

It subsequently emerged that Doohan was on a six-race contract and needed to show improvement to be considered for the rest of the season. After a race-ending crash in Melbourne on the opening lap, Doohan would later cost Alpine millions with a crash in Japan after mistakenly keeping his DRS activated.

Doohan’s six races saw him finish as high as P13 at the Chinese Grand Prix and with zero points to his name, making him one of four drivers, a decision was made to replace him.

As a result of the swap, Alpine is set to gain significant support in one area they didn’t with Doohan according to a report by journalist Lawrence Barretto in F1.com.

Franco Colapinto to bring ‘significant’ backing to Alpine

When Colapinto joined Williams midway through last season, Vowles was open about the influx of sponsors from Argentina that wanted to get involved with the team.

A report suggested that Colapinto was bringing in as much as £420,000 per-race while at Williams, which equated to nearly £3.8m across the rest of the season.

The deal at Alpine is no different, with Colapinto set to bring in a significant sum of money as part of his initial five races with the team before an evaluation is set for the British Grand Prix.

“Colapinto brings significant financial backing to Alpine and, according to sources, there is scope for that support to increase now he has been promoted to a race seat for five races starting next time out in Imola,” wrote Barretto.

• READ MORE: Who is Alpine 2025 F1 driver Franco Colapinto? Everything you need to know

Alpine loses team principal in shock move following Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto switch

In the hours before Alpine confirmed that Doohan would be replacing Colapinto, the team confirmed that team principal Oliver Oakes had resigned from his position as team principal.

It came as a shock, considering Oakes had only been in his position since midway through the 2024 season having replaced interim team principal Bruno Famin.

The timing of his resignation suggests that he disagreed with the decision to promote Colapinto, with reports also suggesting growing discontent in Alpine with Oakes having to justify decisions made by Flavio Briatore in the media.

Oakes’ position has now been filled by Briatore alongside his position as Executive Advisor at Alpine, making it the sixth team principal change in five years for the Enstone-based squad.