Who is Franco Colapinto, Alpine’s newest F1 driver?

After a disappointing start to his Formula 1 career, Australian racer Jack Doohan has been replaced at the Alpine F1 team by reserve driver Franco Colapinto. The switch will see Colapinto race for the French team from F1’s next outing at Imola, for at least five rounds.

The 21-year-old racer joined Alpine as a reserve driver earlier this year, having previously raced for the Williams F1 team in 2024 after he was called on to replace another underperforming driver, Logan Sargeant.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 27 May 2003, Colapinto kicked off his karting career aged 10. The youngster began racing in his home country, where he competed until 2017 when he made the move to Europe. A year later, Colapinto’s time in karts came to an end following victory in the 2018 Youth Summer Olympics.

2018 was also the year that Colapinto made the step up to the F4 Spanish Championship, where he raced for Drivex School, for the first time. The Argentinian racer finished ninth in his first season and followed this with overall victory in the series a year later. 

For 2020, Colapinto took another step up the racing ladder with a move to Formula Renault Eurocup and the Toyota Racing Series, finishing third overall in both series. 

Budget constraints forced Colapinto’s next move, and from 2021 he raced in sportscars and entered the Asian and European Le Mans Series, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The switch didn’t last long, however, and Colapinto contested his first Formula 3 season in 2022 with Van Amersfoort Racing. After taking two race wins in his debut season and finishing ninth in the standings, he was signed on as a Williams Academy driver for 2023 and made the switch to MP Motorsport in F3. 

Two race wins and a fourth-place finish overall secured his promotion to F2 for the following season, and Colapinto also had his first taste of F1 machinery at a post-season test in Abu Dhabi in 2023. 

Colapinto’s F2 career got off to a slow start in 2024, but his fortunes turned around following an in-season test in Spain. He then picked up his first win in the sprint race at Imola and became a regular challenger at the front.

Williams continued Colapinto’s preparations for F1 and he completed FP1 at the 2024 British Grand Prix, which allowed him to get acquainted with the Williams FW46. Soon, he was given the Williams seat full-time after the Grove-based team decided to part ways with American racer Sargeant. 

This gave Colapinto nine races to prove himself at Williams, which he did with a best finish of eighth at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This sparked rumours of a move to the Red Bull camp for the 2025 season, but the Argentinian’s inexperience showed with a pair of violent crashes in Las Vegas and Brazil, and this put Red Bull off his scent. 

The 21-year-old was subsequently signed by Alpine as a reserve driver for the 2025 season, where he worked in the simulator and stood on the sidelines waiting for his time to shine.