Is Franco Colapinto an upgrade over Jack Doohan for Alpine?
F1
Jack Doohan was replaced by Alpine after just six races, for a man with nine grands prix under his best. So will Franco Colapinto do better than the Australian?
Briatore his the main driving force behind Colapinto's arrival
The change many believed would happen even before the 2025 Formula 1 season kicked off was confirmed last week with the news that Jack Doohan would be replaced by Franco Colapinto at Alpine.
Doohan, who was confirmed for the 2025 race seat in August, appeared to be under the Sword of Damocles from the moment he put on his overalls. Executive advisor Flavio Briatore began to show interest in Colapinto long before the Argentine was signed by Alpine.
From the start of his life as an Alpine driver, rumours about Doohan being on a six-race ‘trial period’ were rife, even if the team itself downplayed them.
Briatore’s interest in Colapinto escalated quickly and by January he had become one of Alpine’s reserve drivers, increasing the pressure on Doohan even further.
Colapinto was loaned by Williams to Alpine for five years, according to his manager, showing the French squad’s commitment and belief in the 21-year-old.
Doohan, the son of five-time MotoGP champion Mick, had about 150 days to prove himself and, as evidenced by the swap, the team — or at least Briatore — believes that he didn’t.
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Doohan didn’t have a great start to the season, with a 13th-place finish in China as his best result and several very costly crashes, including in his home race in Australia and later in practice in Japan. His final race, in Miami, also ended with an accident.
On average, Doohan was 0.271sec off team-mate Pierre Gasly‘s pace in qualifying, and the Frenchman has scored just twice as Alpine’s form has oscillated between the front and nearly the bottom of the midfield.
Former team principal Oliver Oakes was a supporter of the Aussie, and the driver was believed to be a point of tension between himself and Briatore as the Italian pushed for Colapinto.
Oakes left the team last week, and while the timing made it look like the driver swap was behind his decision, personal reasons were cited for his exit.
Now Colapinto will get the chance to prove himself as a worthy replacement, but only for five races, in one of F1’s most peculiar driver-selection strategies in recent times.
After those five races, it’s anyone’s guess what Briatore will do.
Colapinto made an early impression at Williams
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“The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options,” Briatore said when announcing Colapinto as Doohan’s replacement.
Will Colapinto prove to be such a big upgrade from Doohan to justify the ruthless decision mid-season driver change?
Pretty much out of nowhere, Colapinto made a big impression last year when he took over Logan Sergeant’s seat at Williams from the Italian Grand Prix.
Colapinto’s ability to jump into a Formula 1 car with minimal preparation and deliver results was widely praised, and justifiably so, as he had been racing in Formula 2 up until the point when he made the last-minute switch to grand prix machinery.
The Buenos Aires-born racer proved to be a step up from Sargeant straight away, with a 12th place finish at Monza on his debut, following by his first points with eighth position in Azerbaijan. Another points finish followed two races later in Texas.
His performances early on even led to speculation that he could replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull, with Helmut Marko praising the Argentine.
Colapinto bring plenty of financial backing with him
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After his impressive debut and early races, however, Colapinto’s star cooled and put an end to the honeymoon phase that had caught everybody’s attention.
Massive crashes in Las Vegas and Brazil took the shine off the early performances that had made him a real contender.
In spite of that, Briatore’s interest didn’t diminish, as evidenced by how quickly talks progressed between the parties involved.
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As is often the case in F1, though, Colapinto’s Alpine deal is nuanced and not based exclusively on his on-track performances.
After Colapinto joined Williams last year, the team announced significant sponsorship deals with Mercado Libre and Globant.
The 21-year-old, the first Argentine to race in Formula 1 since 2001, is also backed by energy company YPF, which also returned to the series after a 23-year absence.
Other sponsors in Colapinto’s roster include beer maker Quilmes and music producer Bizarrap.
All of that will have played an important role in Briatore’s decision, but it will have to be accompanied by on-track performance if Colapinto is to stay in the seat beyond that five-race trial. In theory, at least. In practice, it could be up to Briatore’s whim or the weight of the financial backing for a team struggling to find its footing.
Colapinto’s early races in 2024 were a snapshot of a career that showed promise and a capacity to handle pressure, which will be even higher as he makes his return to the F1 grid at Imola.
