The Alpine Formula 1 team has taken some of the heat out of the driver situation by framing the switch from Jack Doohan to Franco Colapinto as a “rotation,” with the Argentine driver guaranteed five races before a review prior to the British GP.
The team stresses that Doohan is the number one reserve – leaving Paul Aron in the lurch – and that he’s still part of the team.
How that unfolds remains to be seen, and one assumes Colapinto will have to really screw up to not still be in the car at Silverstone, especially given the commercial package that he brings.
He has the advantage of knowing Imola, Barcelona, Monaco and Austria from F2, although Montreal will be new to him. He’s been kept sharp with testing in a 2023 car and sim running, and also has the experience of his nine Williams races last year, whereas Doohan came into the season with just one F1 start behind him, and had more unfamiliar tracks to learn.
It will be fascinating to see if Colapinto can rebuild the momentum he had late last year, before a messy Las Vegas weekend derailed him somewhat.
He certainly deserves another chance to prove that he really has what it takes to be a future superstar, although it’s a pity that it’s happened at the expense of Doohan.
Rarely has a new driver been so undermined elements within his own team, with the signing of Colapinto and the arrival of his sponsorship clearly pointing to a race seat sooner rather than later.
Doohan was under intense pressure even before the first test of this season, and it was inevitable that mistakes would follow as he tried to impress.
The contrast with the red carpet rolled out for Kimi Antonelli, who has felt nothing but support and love from all sides at Mercedes and has been given time to get onto the pace of his team mate, could not be greater. And while Liam Lawson faced a difficult time at RBR he had the soft landing of a return to VCARB.
Pretty much everything that could go wrong for Doohan did go wrong, with him losing qualifying runs to yellow flags or (as in the Miami sprint) to a chequered flag.
There were flashes of inspiration, such as P5 in Q1 in Bahrain, and beating Pierre Gasly in main qualifying last weekend. Alas the Miami GP first corner tangle with Lawson – who was responsible for a previous clash between the pair in China – came at the worst possible time.
In justifying the change Alpine quotes Flavio Briatore as saying: “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. 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.”
Doohan says: “I am very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional F1 driver and I will forever be grateful to the team for helping me achieve this dream.
“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.”
Adam Cooper F1 