Wielding the axe on Jack Doohan, Flavio Briatore says Alpine have to carry out a “complete and fair assessment” of their potential drivers ahead of the all-important F1 2026 season.

Last August, Alpine signed reserve driver Doohan as Pierre Gasly’s new team-mate, the Australian replacing the Haas-bound Esteban Ocon at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Jack Doohan is out, Franco Colapinto is in – for now

But now, seven races into his F1 career, and without a single point on the board, Alpine have made the call to put reserve driver Franco Colapinto in the car from the next race at Imola.

It brings to an end, at least for now, the near-constant Alpine driver debate with Doohan rumoured to only have a short-term contract with early-season reports claiming he had either four or six races to prove himself.

It turned out to be six.

Colapinto, though, will have just five.

The brutal world of Formula 1:

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Announcing the news, Alpine’s statement said the Argentinian driver would be in the car for F1’s next triple-header; Imola, Monaco and Barcelona, before ‘two races in June for the Canadian Grand Prix and Austrian Grand Prix’.

After that, he could find himself back on the reserve bench with Briatore revealing Alpine want to evaluate their drivers to ensure they have the best two in the cars when Formula 1 resets in 2026.

“Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races,” said the new team principal.

“With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up.

“We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year.

“We continue to support Jack at the team, as he has acted in a very professional manner in his role as a race driver so far this season.

“The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.”

The Alpine statement made no mention of the team’s other reserve driver Paul Aran, and whether or not he could be in the car come the British Grand Prix should the team want to also evaluate the Briton. It also didn’t rule out Doohan making a comeback.

The Enstone team’s driver swap comes in the wake of Oliver Oakes stepping down as team principal with immediate effect.

The team issued a brief statement that read, “BWT Alpine Formula One announces that Oliver Oakes has resigned from his role a Team Principal. The team has accepted the resignation with immediate effect.

“As of today, Flavio Briatore will continue as Executive Advisor and will also be covering the duties previously performed by Oliver Oakes.

“The team would like to thank Oliver for his efforts since he joined last summer and for his contribution in helping the team secure sixth place in the 2025 Constructors’ Championship.

“The team will not be making any further comment.”

It is unclear if Oakes’ resignation is at all related to the driver swap, though Oakes has been a public supporter of Doohan during the driver’s F1 campaign.

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