The Australian Grand Prix and the start of the 2025 Formula 1 season is now a month away, but how long one driver lasts is in doubt with the axe already waiting to swing.
Racing will resume in Melbourne as Max Verstappen starts the Red Bull racer’s pursuit of his fifth F1 drivers’ championship in as many seasons. McLaren will also start the defence of the papaya crew’s first constructors’ title since 1998 after edging Ferrari at the last race of 2024.
McLaren are also one of just two teams with Aston Martin to retain their driver line-up from the 2024 Formula 1 season. Yet further changes are afoot among the eight teams who hired new pilots, with one new recruit already facing an uncertain future before the Australian GP.
It is ‘a matter of time’ before Alpine sack Jack Doohan and promote Franco Colapinto
That is according to AS, which reports that paddock chatter hints the contract Alpine gave Jack Doohan to replace Esteban Ocon as Pierre Gasly’s teammate for 2025 is ‘not exactly indestructible’. The 22-year-old is also regarded as the ‘weakest link’ for the Enstone natives.
READ MORE: Who is Alpine F1 driver Jack Doohan? All to know from his girlfriend to dad
So, as Alpine executive adviser Flavio Briatore also went out and hired Franco Colapinto over the winter to be a reserve driver, it is believed that it is now ‘a matter of time’ before he also fires Doohan for the Argentine. Alpine paid Williams £8.5m for Colapinto in January, as well.
Alpine gave Doohan a £1.5m a year contract last August to earn his rookie F1 season in 2025 after deciding to move on from Ocon, who joined Haas. The Australian ultimately debuted in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where Colapinto concluded a nine-race cameo for Williams.
Some Alpine staff want Paul Aron, not Franco Colapinto, to replace Jack Doohan
Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes was stoked to see Doohan replace Ocon, with the switch even making the son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan the first driver to graduate from their academy into a Formula 1 seat at the Renault-owned squad. But his time in F1 may be brief.
READ MORE: Who is Alpine reserve driver Franco Colapinto? Everything to know
Oakes also acknowledged at the time that “I am fully aware of his raw talent and potential”, having previously worked with Doohan in 2019. Yet Briatore holds a lot of power at Enstone and already established an underwhelming view of Doohan from his F1 debut in Abu Dhabi.
Briatore compared Doohan and Colapinto’s data in Abu Dhabi and saw the Alpine rookie lost about three-tenths of a second a lap to the Williams pilot. It was also even more damning as Williams suspect Colapinto was losing 0.2s a lap after being hit from behind by Oscar Piastri.
But not everyone at the £1.18bn-valued Alpine F1 team is eager to promote the Argentine. While the 21-year-old scored five points during his nine rounds with Williams, some Alpine staff believe Paul Aron rather than Colapinto should replace Doohan if they make a change.
Like Colapinto this January, Aron joined Alpine as a 2025 F1 reserve driver last November for a reunion with Oakes. The 21-year-old Estonian joined Oakes’ Hitech Formula 2 team for his debut in the series in 2024, before then watching Alpine poach the squad’s founder last July.
Leave feedback about this