Alpine considering left-field Franco Colapinto alternative to replace Jack Doohan ahead of his rumoured F1 exit

It appears as though Alpine driver Jack Doohan’s Formula 1 career is set to come to an end after another tough weekend at the Miami Grand Prix.

Alpine started the weekend sitting ninth in the constructors’ championship, with Jack Doohan one of four drivers yet to score a point.

His teammate Pierre Gasly added another point to their tally after benefiting from several time penalties during the Sprint Race, but the Miami Grand Prix proved to once again be a fruitless exercise for the young Australian.

Doohan was furious with the team for not getting him out sooner during Spring qualifying, and he only finished ahead of Max Verstappen after the Dutchman picked up a 10-second time penalty.

He then outqualified Gasly ahead of Sunday’s race, although he still managed to set a slower lap time than Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of starting P14.

Unfortunately, Doohan’s race ended before the end of the first lap, suffering terminal damage at the opening corner after a collision with Liam Lawson.

Doohan was only expected to have a six-race contract, and so his presence in Miami was never a guarantee.

However, it looked as though Doohan would be given until the summer break to prove his worth to Alpine, but unfortunately, that no longer appears to be the case.

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Paul Aron an ‘option’ alongside Franco Colapinto to replace Jack Doohan at Alpine

Oliver Oakes and Flavio Briatore will be aware that the upcoming triple header is an opportune time to switch their drivers if they’re having second thoughts about Doohan.

A report from The Race suggests that Doohan was informed by the team before leaving Miami that they intend to make a change.

Franco Colapinto is seen as the obvious candidate to replace Doohan after being signed from Williams during the winter break.

He already has nine Grand Prix starts under his belt and proved alongside Alex Albon last year how good he is at getting up to speed with very little preparation time.

While he’s the favourite for the role, Alpine are also considering youngster Paul Aron as an ‘option’ to step into Doohan’s car.

Aron is highly rated by Alpine insiders after a very strong Formula 2 campaign last year, although he comes with far less backing than his Argentine colleague.

READ MORE: Who is Alpine reserve driver Franco Colapinto? Everything to know

What went wrong for Jack Doohan during his rookie F1 season with Alpine?

F1 Oversteer reported that a swap between Doohan and Colapinto was expected ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Doohan has shown signs of promise this season, and outqualifying Gasly on Saturday highlights that he’s not too far off the Frenchman’s level.

However, he’s now had three high-profile crashes this season, after spinning out on the opening lap in Australia and suffering a huge incident at the beginning of his first practice session in Japan.

Rookies are susceptible to those kinds of mistakes, but the trouble for Doohan is that the rest of the crop that have arrived from Formula 2 have all been at a very high level.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli is now Formula 1’s youngest pole sitter, Oliver Bearman has three top-10 finishes to his name, Isack Hadjar has been the surprise of the season and Gabriel Bortoleto’s car is simply too uncompetitive to draw any meaningful conclusions.

Doohan needed to snatch a point or two at the start of the season to show Alpine that when the conditions are right, he’s able to deliver.

When Gasly nearly held off Verstappen in Bahrain for P7, Doohan was down in 14th, and that might have been the sign Alpine needed that a change was going to be necessary.