Franco Colapinto is already facing a make-or-break phase of his Alpine career ahead of the 2025 F1 Canadian Grand Prix with pressure consuming the Argentine’s future.
Questions are now growing rapidly, with Colapinto still to totally justify why Alpine demoted Jack Doohan back into a reserve driver role to promote the 22-year-old. The Enstone natives are yet to see Colapinto show he is better than the Australian they canned after seven races.
Now, the Buenos Aires native has to deliver at this weekend’s Canadian GP and the Austrian Grand Prix on June 27-29 to retain the drive. Alpine only gave Colapinto a five-round deal to replace Doohan from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, but have reaped no rewards.
Executive adviser Flavio Briatore will review Alpine’s driver line-up before the British Grand Prix on July 4-6, with Pierre Gasly potentially getting another new teammate at Silverstone. Briatore has also stated that he is ‘not happy at all’ with Colapinto’s form since stepping up.
Franco Colapinto’s Canadian GP FP1 spin is not what he needs to save his Alpine seat
The Canadian GP is the fourth of Colapinto’s five races for Alpine, but he arrived in Montreal still yet to score a point in the 2025 F1 season. He only came 16th in the Emilia Romagna GP after Colapinto crashed in qualifying at Imola and was then P13 in Monaco and P15 in Spain.
So, Canada and Austria are critical for Colapinto’s Alpine future, but his time in Montreal got off to a poor start on Friday. The first practice session for the 2025 F1 Canadian GP was less than three minutes in before Colapinto spun, which Abbi Pulling feels he really did not need.
READ MORE: Who is Alpine 2025 F1 driver Franco Colapinto? Everything you need to know
Colapinto clumsily spun as the Alpine star started his first flying lap of the weekend through Turn 2. Despite carrying relatively little speed through the long, 180° right-hander, Colapinto lost the rear of his A525 late in the corner and would not wrestle back control early enough.
“I think there is so much pressure on Franco,” Pulling told BBC Radio 5 Live. “It’s the first lap. It is not something you want to be doing to impress your bosses. But it is early days, it’s a cold atmosphere here.”
Franco Colapinto must score points in Canada, not spin, to save his Alpine seat
Alpine paid Williams £8.5m to sign Colapinto on a five-year loan deal to initially join them as a reserve driver for the 2025 F1 season. Yet Briatore demoted Doohan back to a backup role after the 22-year-old failed to secure a point through the first six rounds of the 2025 season.
But Colapinto has not shown himself to be an upgrade on Doohan since taking over the seat at Imola. He was 0.319 seconds slower than Gasly in Q1 at Imola before crashing, 0.603s off the Frenchman’s pace in qualifying in Monaco and 0.253s off the 29-year-old in Q1 in Spain.
While Gasly also scored four points with P8 in the Spanish Grand Prix after starting from P8 on the grid, Colapinto finished in 15th place. Only the Haas duo also finished behind him in Barcelona, where Oliver Bearman took the finish in P13 but held a 10-second time penalty.
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