With Alpine signing Colapinto, is Hirakawa right to continue to dream about F1?

Ryo Hirakawa’s move to Alpine as a test and reserve driver was overshadowed by the news that ex-Williams racer Franco Colapinto has been appointed for the same role on Thursday. Beyond obvious questions as to why Alpine chose to have three drivers for a position usually held by a single up-and-coming junior, its decision to hire 30-year-old Hirakawa was also curious.

In Colapinto it has a plug-and-play driver with recent F1 experience who can step in in case of an emergency, or if the early performance of rookie Jack Doohan proves unsatisfactory. Likewise, with Paul Aron, it has a chance to hone the talent of a youngster who performed exceptionally well in his rookie F2 season in 2024.

There are also other members in its junior academy who are waiting in the wings, including Victor Martins and Kush Maini. So where exactly does Hirakawa fit in the equation? And what is in it for the Japanese driver?

Hirakawa has had an unusual route to international recognition, certainly when compared with his European counterparts. When Toyota needed a new driver from its home country to replace the retiring Kazuki Nakajima for the World Endurance Championship in 2022, it had plenty of options to choose from its domestic portfolio, but it was 2017 Super GT champion Hirakawa who got the nod.

Among other factors, what worked in Hirakawa’s favour was his short but proven track record in delivering results abroad. Super Formula and Super GT’s top drivers are nearly unbeatable when on home turf, but many of them simply struggle to perform at the same level when placed outside their comfort zone. Hirakawa was not only rapid in Japan’s domestic series, but he had shown that he can be quick in international competition, having scored three wins in nine races in the European Le Mans Series and helped G-Drive take the title in 2017. He had enough experience of multi-class sportscar racing, yet was young enough to form part of Toyota’s long-term plans.

Toyota’s faith in Hirakawa paid off as he was up to speed by the most important round of the year, Le Mans, and the #8 GR010 HYBRID won that year’s Hypercar title together with Brendon Hartley and Sebastien Buemi. The trio repeated their WEC success the following year, but a second triumph at Le Mans went begging after Hirakawa spun in the penultimate hour. Toyota later revealed he had not been told about a brake setting change in the team’s late push to snatch victory from Ferrari.

For most people, success in the WEC – especially in a golden age of manufacturer competition – would be enough, but Hirakawa clearly had larger ambitions. It’s why towards the end of 2023 there was a surprise announcement from McLaren that he had joined the team as a reserve driver. The role has seen him drive the MCL35 (2020) and MCL36 (2022) under the TPC regulations in the last two years, while he also made his practice debut in Abu Dhabi in December.

Then, in October last year, Toyota signed a technical partnership with Haas in F1, which paved the way for Hirakawa’s outing with the VF-24 in the Abu Dhabi rookie test last month – days after he had driven the title-winning McLaren. Given the new relationship between Toyota and Haas, it was safe to conclude that Hirakawa would eventually leave McLaren and join the American-flagged team at some point in the future.

This would have been beneficial for Toyota as well, as it could install its ‘own man’ to help develop TGR engineers, mechanics and even up-and-coming drivers. Of course, that was one of Toyota’s main goals while announcing its ‘return’ to F1 for the first time since its works team pulled out after 2009.

Hirakawa fancies his own chances, however small they are, of joining the F1 grid in 2025. Also by signing a deal with Alpine, Hirakawa is now his own man

But clearly, Hirakawa doesn’t see a long-term future for himself at Haas. Esteban Ocon has a multi-year deal beginning in 2025, while Oliver Bearman has already proved his credentials in F1, meaning a vacancy is unlikely to open up for a while. At least not until Bearman is ripe for a graduation to Ferrari.

So when Alpine came calling over the winter break, a chance to potentially break into F1 was hard to refuse. There have been a number of rumours about the future of its new signing Jack Doohan following an under-the-radar debut at Yas Marina, with some suggesting that he might not make it to the end of the 2025 season. Even Alpine admitted that signing Colapinto in its roster gives him the “best chance of securing a race seat in 2025 or 2026”, lending further credence to the notion that Doohan’s seat is not secure beyond the opening lot of races.

“I wasn’t satisfied with just driving in FP1 at Abu Dhabi last year. My ultimate goal is to compete in F1 as a full-time driver,” he said at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

With that in mind, Hirakawa fancies his own chances, however small they are, of joining the F1 grid in 2025. Also by signing a deal with Alpine, Hirakawa is now his own man – while still contracted to Toyota – and can pursue his ambitions independently.

Hirakawa appeared for Haas in rookie test and was expected to have a bigger role in future as part of Toyota’s tie-up with the team

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Toyota as always is happy to heed to the wishes of Hirakawa, although not having him at Haas is a small setback for the manufacturer. The world’s largest automaker, with its Japanese mentality, has never stood in the way of its drivers; in recent years it has allowed Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi, Hirakawa’s team-mates in WEC, to race for Cadillac and even rival Honda’s Acura brand in the Daytona 24 Hours.

“We received an offer directly from Alpine regarding Hirakawa,” Toyota’s global motorsport director Masaya Kaji told Motorsport.com Japan. “We have worked with teams like McLaren and Haas in the past. However, for this offer, we chose to prioritise Hirakawa’s wishes. He expressed his desire to challenge himself as a driver and aim for a regular seat, so we decided to support him in pursuing this path.”

Hirakawa has upped his game since he first stepped into the WEC three years ago. His 2024 campaign was easily the best of his short stint in Hypercar and played a small role in Toyota defending its manufacturer crown against stern opposition from Ferrari and Porsche. He also relocated to Monaco last year, like several other drivers from Europe and elsewhere, and is now fluent in English. Clearly, he no longer sees himself as a domestic racing driver.

Even Toyota admits that Hirakawa doesn’t want to settle for a ‘third driver’ role now that he has proven himself internationally.

“Ultimately, ending his career as a reserve driver is not an option,” Kaji said. “While pursuing a regular seat has always been the goal, this opportunity with Alpine aligns with Hirakawa’s ambition to take on new challenges. It’s not that his approach has fundamentally changed but rather that he is making a strategic choice to further his career by focusing on the best opportunity to secure a seat.”

One can argue that Hirakawa’s F1 ambitions are unlikely to achieve anything, especially now that Colapinto is in the picture at Alpine. It’s unclear if he was even aware that the French outfit was talking to the ex-Williams racer when he put pen to paper for a reserve role.

It’s also worth pointing out that Hirakawa has stopped racing in his home country to pursue bigger goals. He had already stepped down from Super GT following his entry into Toyota’s Hypercar line-up, and he also left Super Formula after 2023 as he struck the F1 deal with McLaren. So by developing a faint hope of racing in F1, Hirakawa has given up the chance of accumulating titles in his homeland.

While he already has a GT500 championship under his belt with Lexus from 2017, Hirakawa – for all his talent – has never managed to lift the trophy in Super Formula. The closest he came to winning the ultimate prize was in 2020, when he arguably should have scored a Super Formula/Super GT double without a late stroke of bad luck.

Hirakawa impressed McLaren with his pace in Abu Dhabi FP1 outing

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

While he may have fewer trophies from domestic competition in his cabinet, it’s also true that working behind the scenes with a team like McLaren is one of the reasons why Hirakawa has become such a potent force in the WEC. The tools employed in F1 are on a different level, and this analytical approach has greatly improved Hirakawa’s driving in other categories.

Hirakawa’s work at McLaren hasn’t gone unnoticed, with the team praising both his speed and work ethic during the limited mileage he got in its grand prix cars. So the decision to link up with an F1 team has clearly worked out for him.

“[I’m] so very impressed with his professional approach and diligence,” said McLaren team principal Andrea Stella after Hirakawa replaced Oscar Piastri in FP1 in Abu Dhabi. “And then when he came to having some performance runs, actually, considering that it was pretty much his first time in a Formula 1 team, except for some TPC running, which, anyhow, wasn’t very much. Once again, we got quite impressed.

Turning 31 in March, he still has a long career ahead of him in the WEC and possibly back at home, whether an Alpine race seat materialises or not

“We were giving him some feedback in terms of driving, and to be honest, he just executed what we said very well. In terms of attitude, professionality, commitment, we knew him – because we have had him around in the TPC car, and we have had him around here for many events – but the good surprise is the speed, the control of the car. It’s the elements of being a driver that we could not see before, and that today they were very impressive.”

Even if he never lands a race seat, Hirakawa would leave F1 as a better, faster and smarter driver. Turning 31 in March, he still has a long career ahead of him in the WEC and possibly back at home, whether an Alpine race seat materialises or not. Mike Conway, the oldest driver in Toyota’s Hypercar line-up, turns 42 this year, so age is still on Hirakawa’s side as far as sportscar racing is concerned.

Of course, Alpine’s decision to hire him in an already crowded driver roster is still puzzling. So far, the Renault Group brand has only gone on to say it wanted a more experienced head in its roster, as it already employs a lot of young talent.

Hirakawa has time on his side to pursue F1 opportunities without hurting his sportscar career prospects

Photo by: Motorsport.com Japan

But that only answers part of the question. Alpine already has a spearhead in Pierre Gasly, who is contracted to the team for the long term. New team principal Oliver Oakes also knows how to deal with young drivers, given his extensive management experience in junior formulae with Hitech.

One can only imagine that recruiting Hirakawa amps up the pressure on Doohan, while also keeping Colapinto in check. While the young Argentine proved he is more than worthy of an F1 seat when he first stepped up to Williams at Monza, and comes loaded with cash from South American sponsors, a slew of crashes later in the year tainted his CV.

Only time will tell what exactly Alpine and Hirakawa are able to achieve by their new association. Private tests, and a practice outing at Suzuka, will keep them busy early on, but clearly there is a desire to achieve something bigger together. However, the future of the partnership isn’t exactly in their hands, as Doohan’s results will ultimately decide if Alpine needs to reshuffle its line-up.

The onus is now on Doohan to surpass the seemingly low expectations of his team and be quick straight out of the blocks in 2025, or face a real-life example of how ruthless F1 can be. After all, Flavio Briatore is now calling the shots at Alpine, and both Colapinto and Hirakawa are waiting for the door to open…

Additional reporting by Ken Tanaka

Can Doohan do enough to keep Colapinto, Hirakawa and Aron out?

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images