“It’s happening again in Italy!” Franco Colapinto “cannot wait” as he readies to return to the Formula 1 grid with Alpine.

The Argentine makes his comeback at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as he starts a five-race audition with Alpine after the team made the decision to demote Jack Doohan to reserve, and call Colapinto up in his place, six rounds into the F1 2025 campaign.

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Doohan had been racing throughout the season so far under a cloud of speculation over his long-term future in the Alpine cockpit, with talk that he could be replaced by Colapinto stretching all the way back to pre-season.

Doohan got six grands prix, but now Colapinto takes over, as he looks to build upon what was an impressive arrival onto the F1 scene with Williams last year as a mid-season replacement for Logan Sargeant.

Colapinto made his Formula 1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, as the nation of Italy prepares to host his return to the grid.

Reacting to the news, Colapinto said: “Firstly, I want to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to drive competitively for the next five races.

“I will work hard with the team to prepare for the next race in Imola and the upcoming triple-header, which will no doubt be intense and a big challenge for everyone.

“I have stayed sharp, and I am as ready as possible with the team’s race support testing programme, as well as on the simulator at Enstone.

“I will do my best to get up to speed quickly and give it my all to deliver the best possible results alongside Pierre.”

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And in a subsequent video posted on social media, Colapinto added: “Hope you already heard the big news! I’m going to be back in the grid, back in Formula 1 as an Alpine racing driver.

“Cannot be more excited about it. It’s an amazing opportunity. Thank you to all the team for the confidence, for the trust, to put me in that seat.

“It’s happening again in Italy! It was Monza last year, now it’s Imola. Great race track to do it, to do my debut with the team. And it’s going to be great. I cannot wait to get started. Super excited.

“Just big, big thanks to all the fans, to all the Alpine fans, all the people that have been supporting the team and myself when I was not racing.

“I hope you guys enjoy, that we have some fun and we have some really good results. See you very soon.”

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