Australian racer Jack Doohan lasted just six races in the F1 2025 season before Alpine replaced him with Franco Colapinto.

Colapinto showed promise with Williams in his 2024 debut — but Jacques Villeneuve is wondering if we’ll see a “fast” Colapinto, or a crash-prone Colapinto.

Can Franco Colapinto put together a complete F1 weekend?

When word filtered in from Alpine that Jack Doohan would be dropped ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola and replaced by young talent Franco Colapinto, few were shocked.

Colapinto, the Argentinian who made his Formula 1 debut for Williams in the latter stages of 2024, quickly impressed the motorsport world with both his raw pace and his impressive fan base.

With both Williams seats filled for 2025, Colapinto was left looking for options — and found one as a reserve driver at Alpine. Yet with rumours swirling that Jack Doohan’s contract only lasted a handful of races, it was only a matter of time before the Aussie racer found himself on the sidelines.

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix preview

👉 A shock home win? Four bold predictions for the Imola GP

👉 The new evidence that shows McLaren’s brake cooling philosophy

For Sky Sports F1 pundit Jacques Villeneuve, Doohan’s sacking was inevitable.

“The writing was there, and sadly, Doohan just didn’t do enough, didn’t do what was necessary,” the former World Champion said.

“If you take football, you’ll be benched. That’s just the way it is.

“This is F1; you’re supposed to be quick enough to bring something to the table. And he wasn’t. He wasn’t bringing sponsors. ”

Multi-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick chimed in to admit that she had seen promise in Doohan — but that he hadn’t quite delivered.

“To be honest, I was quite impressed with Jack in his first few races, just given the fact that he came into it as a complete rookie,” she said.

“He’d done a little bit of F1 testing prior to that, but he was very much a rookie.

“The problem is, he would have had to set the world alight to outshine someone like Franco Colapinto, who came in last year and really did blow the doors off a little bit.

“I think it’s like you say — a little bit inevitability.

“And I do think, from a team point of view, if they were going to do it, you kind of have to rip the band-aid off. You have to do it at some point and give Franco these races now, which I don’t think is a bad thing.

“That said, it’s incredibly tough for Jack and I don’t think he was given quite the opportunity to show what he could do.”

Colapinto’s role on the team isn’t guaranteed; he’ll have five races to find his footing before Alpine reevaluates its lineup. And waiting in the wings is a hungry Paul Aron.

But now, for Villeneuve, the big question is about the kind of Colapinto we’ll see in Imola.

“He’s fast,” Villeneuve told Sky Sports before FP1, “but he’s also a crasher.

So which Franco will we get? And it’s always a toss of the dice. Will he be able to be as fast without crashing, or will he have to slow down to not crash?

“That’s the big question, and we’ll find out, because he’s had a year to digest his last season.”

“I think what’s good for him now, he’s at tracks he knows,” Chadwick added.

“He’s at European tracks. He’s done a lot in the junior categories here.

“Last year, he was thrown into a lot of tracks he wouldn’t have known; he had COTA, he had Singapore, he had tracks that really were challenging.

“So I think in that sense, it’s going to be a little bit easier for him.”

But Colapinto will need to find his footing directly.

Chadwick explained, “He’s really got to have it down as a race driver now. He can’t just show flashes of speed; he’s got to show complete weekend performances.

“He’s got to get those points in for the team, and that’s what will make the difference, if he can make it out the rest of the year.”

His first two practice sessions squared away, Colapinto will now be expected to lock in for a strong qualifying session and race.

Read next: Emilia Romagna GP: Verstappen bangs his steering wheel as McLaren go 1-2, Bortoleto crashes