The Alpine Formula 1 team has officially confirmed Franco Colapinto will replace Jack Doohan for the next five rounds, starting at next week’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
Doohan has been relieved of his duties after six difficult race weekends over which the Australian showed flashes of one-lap pace but struggled to deliver consistent grand prix weekends.
Doohan outqualified team-mate Pierre Gasly at last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, but was then involved in a Turn 1 tangle with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson which ended his race on the spot, adding to his tally of on-track incidents in 2025.
Gasly’s seventh place at the Bahrain Grand Prix showed Alpine has a potentially quick car this season, but in an extremely close midfield battle the Enstone squad has now moved to replace Doohan with Colapinto in a bid to get both cars into scoring positions.
As an added benefit, Colapinto also brings considerable backing from his home country of Argentina.
Jack Doohan, Alpine
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Rumours of an early driver change have swirled ever since Alpine signed Colapinto over the winter from Williams.
That is where the 21-year-old caused an immediate impact during his nine-race cameo last year, having scored points in Baku and Austin when replacing Logan Sargeant, which led to a brief spell of interest from the Red Bull camp.
But the Argentinian’s inexperience also showed in violent crashes in Las Vegas and Brazil, which put Red Bull off his scent, before Alpine swooped in to add Colapinto to its roster of reserve drivers.
Colapinto has now been prepared for his second F1 stint at Alpine with a mixture of simulation work and private testing.
It is the second in-season driver change this year after Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda were swapped between Red Bull and Racing Bulls after just two race weekends.
More to follow…
