Franco Colapinto told one flaw must be ‘ironed out’ to keep Alpine seat beyond his five-round F1 contract

Franco Colapinto will make his debut for Alpine in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but he only replaced Jack Doohan on a five-round contract starting at Imola this weekend.

Executive adviser Flavio Briatore has a huge amount of belief in Colapinto, yet has given the 21-year-old until the end of June to prove why he has replaced Doohan. Alpine will evaluate their driver line-up again before heading to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix on July 4-6.

It is the second time in eight months that Colapinto has joined the grid mid-season knowing that he could soon be left without a drive. Alpine paid Williams £8.5m to sign Colapinto as a reserve driver in January, having impressed through a nine-round cameo at the end of 2024.

Franco Colapinto must iron out his expensive crashes to keep the Alpine F1 seat

It is also not a comfortable position for the Argentine, as Colapinto knows Briatore will hand Paul Aron the Alpine seat if he cannot deliver. Doohan did not score a point over the first six rounds of the 2025 F1 season, yet Colapinto earned Williams five in his first four last season.

READ MORE: Who is Alpine 2025 F1 driver Franco Colapinto? Everything you need to know

The Buenos Aires native’s performances to secure P8 in the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and P10 in the 2024 United States GP also impressed Anthony Davidson. But the ex-BAR F1 star feels Colapinto must now iron out the crashes that stained Colapinto’s cameo with Williams.

Davidson said on Sky Sports News (15/05, 12:21): “I’m pretty convinced he will see out the season. We all saw when he first burst onto the scene last year at Williams, [he] delivered when he needed to, bagging points [and taking] a best finish of eighth place.

“So, he came in with that energy, that commitment behind the wheel, but it did come with some crashes, thrills and spills along the way, as well. So, those have to be ironed out, I feel, in his time at Alpine. It’s going to be interesting to see how he adapts to another new car.”

Franco Colapinto cost Williams the sixth-most of all F1 drivers in 2024 for repair damage

Colapinto bounced back from crashing in FP1 for the 2024 Azerbaijan GP when the Williams academy product lost the rear of his car turning into Turn 4 to qualify in P9 and to finish the race in P8. Baku saw Colapinto get into Q3 and score points for the first time as an F1 driver.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage

But once Red Bull showed an interest in signing Colapinto from Williams, the crashes started to pile up and the Milton Keynes team backed away. He even cost the Grove squad the sixth-most of any driver in 2024 in repairs at £2.19m, while Logan Sargeant was fourth at £2.36m.

His repair bill went into overdrive across the 2024 Sao Paulo and Las Vegas Grands Prix, too. Colapinto and Alex Albon cost Williams seven figures in Brazil, where the former crashed in qualifying and behind a safety car in the Grand Prix. He also crashed in qualifying in Sin City.

Now, Davidson thinks Colapinto only has to avoid repeating those errors to keep the seat he got off Doohan at Alpine. Yet Doohan’s contract could force Alpine to put him back in at the end of Colapinto’s five-round run, mainly if the Argentine’s sponsors do not fulfil their deals.