Franco Colapinto has replaced Jack Doohan at Alpine with immediate effect for the next five rounds.
Doohan’s removal comes after seven Grands Prix with the team in which he only outqualified teammate, Pierre Gasly twice, whilst his final race for the team in Miami ended in a first-lap retirement after his front-left tyre got clipped by Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson at the opening corner.
Team Principal, Oliver Oakes subsequently resigned which left Flavio Briatore in charge and the Italian decided to drop Doohan in favour of Colapinto, with the Argentinean bringing more financial backing to the team and already has established his potential with a nine-race stint at Williams last season.
His time at Williams yielded five points and led Alpine to swoop for the 21 year-old in January to boost their reserve roster alongside Paul Aron.
Colapinto will compete in the next five rounds for Alpine comprising of; Imola, Monaco, Spain, Canada and Austria, whilst Doohan return to his reserve duties of 2024.
“As part of an on-going assessment of its driver line-up, the team has made the decision to rotate one of its race seats for the next five rounds of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship,” confirmed Alpine in a press statement.
“BWT Alpine Formula One Team therefore announces that Franco Colapinto will be paired with Pierre Gasly from the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, ahead of a new evaluation before the British Grand Prix in July.
“Jack Doohan remains an integral part of the team and will be the first-choice Reserve Driver for this period of time.”
Colapinto added that he is ready to embrace the new challenge after extensive testing with the team.
“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.”
Doohan reflected on his seven-race stint which started with the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP as he spoke of feeling “… very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional Formula One driver and I will forever be grateful to the team for helping me achieve this dream.”
He also addressed the difficulty of being dropped during the season but has vowed to aid Alpine’s mission to achieve their goals from his reserve role.
“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.”
Briatore however has refused to rule out a return for a “very professional” Doohan this season as he explained that the swap will allow Alpine a chance to conduct “a complete and fair assessment” of their drivers ahead of the 2026 season.
“The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.”
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