Alpine confirms Colapinto as Doohan’s replacement from Imola F1 grand prix

The Alpine Formula 1 team has officially confirmed Franco Colapinto will replace Jack Doohan for the next five races of the 2025 season, starting at next week’s Emilia Romagna GP in Imola.

Doohan has been relieved of his duties after six difficult race weekends over which the Australian showed flashes of one-lap pace but struggled to deliver consistent race weekends.

Doohan outqualified team-mate Pierre Gasly at last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, but then got involved in a Turn 1 tangle with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson which ended his race on the spot, adding to his tally of on-track incidents this year.

Gasly’s seventh place at the Bahrain Grand Prix showed Alpine had a potentially quick car this season, but in an extremely close midfield battle the Enstone squad has now moved to replace Doohan with Colapinto in a bid to get both cars into scoring positions. As an added benefit, Colapinto also brings considerable backing from his home country of Argentina.

Colapinto will race from Imola onwards for the next five races, with a new evaluation taking place after the Austrian Grand Prix, while Doohan will return to his previous reserve driver role.

“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 executive advisor Flavio Briatore, who now fully leads the team after Oliver Oakes’ resignation on Tuesday. “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.”

Colapinto was quoted as saying: “Firstly, I want to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to drive competitively for the next five races. I will work hard with the team to prepare for the next race in Imola and the upcoming triple-header, which will no doubt be intense and a big challenge for everyone. I have stayed sharp, and I am as ready as possible with the team’s race support testing programme, as well as on the simulator at Enstone. I will do my best to get up to speed quickly and give it my all to deliver the best possible results alongside Pierre.”

Ever since 2024 Williams reserve Colapinto was signed by Alpine over the winter, rumours swirled over an early driver change at the team, which has now materialised.

Colapinto caused an immediate impact on his nine-race Williams cameo replacing Logan Sargeant, scoring points in Baku and Austin, which led to a brief spell of interest from the Red Bull camp. But the Argentinian’s inexperience also showed in violent crashes in Las Vegas and Brazil, which put Red Bull off his scent, before Alpine swooped in over the off-season to add the 21-year-old to its roster of reserve drivers.

Colapinto has now been prepared for his second F1 stint at Alpine with a mixture of simulation work and private testing.

It is the second in-season driver change this year after Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda were swapped between Red Bull and Racing Bulls after just two race weekends.