James Vowles explains what ‘specifically’ surprised him about Alpine’s decision to promote Franco Colapinto at Imola

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will see Franco Colapinto make his Alpine debut after six race weekends sitting on the bench.

Franco Colapinto was handed his Formula 1 debut by Williams team principal James Vowles last season.

Logan Sargeant was replaced by Colapinto and the Argentine immediately showed Williams what they were missing.

He scored five points in his nine races for the team, and that was enough to convince Alpine to sign the 21-year-old as a reserve driver for the 2025 F1 season.

Jack Doohan had a tough stint at Alpine, and after a pointless start to the campaign, acting team principal Flavio Briatore decided to make the swap ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Colapinto has been given five races to prove himself including the upcoming triple header.

A race seat at Williams was off the table for the Argentine last year, even when he was impressing in Azerbaijan and Austin.

Vowles has now given his verdict on his promotion and why it’s potentially caught him off guard.

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

James Vowles didn’t think Franco Colapinto’s ‘best chance’ of racing in F1 was until 2026

The Williams team principal was speaking at a media event, via Motorsport, ahead of the race at Imola and asked about his old driver.

Responding to the move and his subsequent promotion, Vowles said, “There’s a reason we were really happy to do a transaction with Alpine, because I really do think it’s his best chance of being in a racing seat, either in 2025 – or we thought, more specifically, ’26.

“I’m proud he was part of our academy and that we have a responsibility towards why he’s now on the grid today. What you saw with us is he got up to speed very quickly.

“I know he’s immensely quick, so I think irrespective of whatever deadline they [Alpine] have set, he’ll do a good job in that period of time.”

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

Alpine’s contract fiasco doesn’t guarantee Franco Colapinto a long-term position in F1

The ideal situation for Williams and Vowles is that Colapinto performs at such a high level that Alpine buy him out of his contract completely, or he forces his parent team to potentially part ways with Alex Albon or Carlos Sainz.

Colapinto’s sponsors have played a key role in his promotion, which gave Alpine a much-needed financial boost.

However, just like many expected Colapinto to be contractually obliged to race for Alpine at some point this year, Doohan may be in a similar position.

Doohan’s contract could force Alpine to make another driver switch, while highly rated reserve driver Paul Aron is also in the mix should Colapinto underperform.

Karun Chandhok believes Colapinto’s private tests haven’t quite gone to plan in the run-up to his return to the grid.

He’s always had exciting underlying speed, but too often last year he found the barriers when Williams desperately needed him to keep the car on the track.