Alpine F1 demotion is “tough to take”, admits Doohan

Jack Doohan says losing his race seat at the Alpine F1 team to Franco Colapinto is “a tough one for me to take” after it was confirmed he would step back, six races into the 2025 season.

Doohan was yet to score points for the Alpine squad, and after another challenging weekend in Miami, which showed some strong one-lap performance but also ended after a Turn 1 collision, the team has now pulled the trigger on putting reserve driver Colapinto in the seat for the next five grand prix weekends.

Doohan will meanwhile return to reserve duties with the team, which will re-evaluate its line-up after the Austrian Grand Prix in June.

The 22-year-old Australian admitted his demotion was hard to take, but vowed to keep his head down over the next few months.

“I am very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional Formula 1 driver, and I will forever be grateful to the team for helping me achieve this dream,” Doohan stated, quoted by Alpine. “Obviously, this latest chapter is a tough one for me to take because, as a professional driver, naturally I want to be racing.

“That said, I appreciate the team’s trust and commitment. We have long-term goals as a team to achieve, and I will continue to give my maximum efforts in any way I can to help achieve those. For now, I will keep my head down, keep working hard, watch with interest the next five races and keep chasing my own personal goals.”

Alpine’s driver swap coincides with team principal Oliver Oakes resigning from the role, after having run the team alongside executive advisor Flavio Briatore since last summer.

“Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races,” said Briatore, who is now fully in charge of the team for the time being. “With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up.

“We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year. We continue to support Jack at the team, as he has acted in a very professional manner in his role as a race driver so far this season. The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.”