Alpine are expected to announce imminently that Jack Doohan has lost his Formula 1 seat. Franco Colapinto is set to replace him from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix onwards.
F1 Oversteer revealed on Monday that Alpine were considering whether to drop Doohan after his retirement at the Miami GP. He’s only competed in seven races but has yet to score a point.
Alpine plan to keep Doohan as one of their reserves. But it’s highly unlikely he returns to a race seat, at least while the current regime in place.
On Tuesday evening, it emerged that team principal Oliver Oakes had left his post. Flavio Briatore, who had been an advisor to Renault CEO Luca de Meo, has now assumed his responsibilities.
According to Planet F1’s Thomas Maher, Alpine staff have already been informed of the imminent driver change. All that remains now is for the news to be made public.
Flavio Briatore wanted to show Jack Doohan’s ‘shortcomings’ with Abu Dhabi debut
Doohan surprisingly made his debut for Alpine at the final race of the 2024 season in Abu Dhabi. Esteban Ocon was still under contract as Pierre Gasly’s teammate.
However, Briatore and Ocon negotiated an early separation so the Frenchman could take part in the post-season test for Haas. A report from Marca has potentially revealed the true motive behind that decision.
Based on information from an anonymous source, Alpine fast-tracked Doohan to ‘highlight his shortcomings’. Briatore arrived when he’d already been signed, and was ‘desperate’ to get Colapinto instead.
The consensus was that ‘Doohan won’t last long’, with talk of only five or six races behind the wheel. He made it to seven, but Briatore felt he had all the justification he needed to make a swap.
Jack Doohan ‘was not happy’ when Alpine made him the scapegoat for costly error
Doohan struggled in Abu Dhabi with little preparation time. He was slowest in qualifying while Gasly took P6, and he placed 15th among 16 finishers in the race.
The Australian has shown his talent in small glimpses this year, outpacing Gasly on Friday in China and on Saturday in Miami. But, perhaps as a result of the extreme pressure, he was also involved in too many incidents.
The most notable was a 185mph crash in Japanese GP practice. Doohan was furious that Alpine made him take the fall even though they hadn’t told him to close the DRS (the root cause of the accident).
As he tries to revive his F1 career, Cadillac could offer Doohan refuge. The sport’s newest entrants still have two spots open for 2026.
