As pressure mounts on Franco Colapinto to deliver improved performances for Alpine, PlanetF1.com understands Sergio Perez is no imminent threat.

Colapinto is in the midst of a five-race stint in the race seat at Enstone, having taken over from Jack Doohan who competed in the opening six races of the year.

Alpine deny Sergio Perez in frame for F1 2025 return

The F1 2025 season has been a slog for Alpine with the squad languishing at the foot of the Constructors’ Championship with just 10 points – all courtesy of lead driver Pierre Gasly.

A brutal start to the year saw Doohan crash out in Australia on the opening lap before picking up penalties in China and crashing heavily in his first session in the car in Japan.

Another incident at the Miami Grand Prix spelt the end of his tenure at the wheel, for now.

In his place, Colapinto was drafted in – officially for a five-race evaluation as team advisor Flavio Briatore looks towards the team’s 2026 line-up.

The Argentine driver joined from Williams during the winter break after losing his race seat to Carlos Sainz.

A promising stint in place of Logan Sargeant in the latter part of the F1 2024 season saw Colapinto’s stock rise, with suggestions he could even oust Doohan from the race seat before the season started.

With three races under his belt with Alpine, the 23-year-old has not demonstrated the form that last year saw him twice steal points for Williams.

His best result to date was 13th in Monaco, while he blotted his copybook in Imola with a qualifying crash.

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With Briatore looking to next season, veteran Sergio Perez has been linked with a return to the grid.

The Mexican is without a drive after being let go by Red Bull at the end of a disappointing F1 2024 season.

While his stock was low at the end of last year, the trials and tribulations experienced by his replacements, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, have suggested his struggles were not necessarily of his own making.

An experienced driver with six grand prix wins to his name, a mature driver such as Perez could help steady what has been a listing ship at Alpine.

However, while he’s been linked with the Enstone squad for F1 2026, PlanetF1.com understands Perez is not being considered for this season.

Indeed, despite his run of results, Briatore has insisted that Colapinto needs be given time.

“We need to wait one second to judge Franco,” he said over the Spanish GP weekend.

“We see. We see this race. We need the full race. We did Monte Carlo. It was a very special race for everybody.

“We made a lot of mistakes in qualifying. And in Monte Carlo, you know, qualifying well is the race. Especially this race. Monte Carlo, it was very boring and very annoying. Let’s see.

“This is the first real race of Franco,” he added.

“Races, I don’t know, honestly. I never tell five races, three races, four races, one race. We see.

“If Colapinto is performing he’s driving the car. If not, we’ll see.

“2025 is a year we need to prepare ourselves for 2026. So whatever experiment I need doing, we’re doing.

“I don’t know at this moment if Franco will stay for the season or not, but let’s see. Depends on the performance.

“We’re only looking at the performance — nothing else.”

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