With the news last week that Franco Colapinto has switched from Williams to Alpine for 2025 and beyond, he is poised to repeat his 2024 Formula 1 cameo.
Colapinto signed with the Williams Academy in 2023, and a year and a half later, he found himself plucked from a rookie campaign in Formula 2 to make his F1 debut at the Italian Grand Prix. Colapinto’s nine-race F1 stint was brought on by Logan Sargeant’s repeated failings, whose ceiling at Williams wasn’t of the required standard to match the team’s aspiring ambitions.
Colapinto impressed from the outset, finishing 12th on debut and scoring his first points one round later in Azerbaijan. In Singapore, he finished one place outside the top-10 after defending resolutely against Sergio Perez’s Red Bull before bringing his points tally to five with 10th at the United States GP in Austin, Texas. At this point, Colapinto was drawing a huge amount of interest from Argentine fans and investors alike, as well as Williams’ rival outfits.
Colapinto had to look beyond Williams for F1 future
With Carlos Sainz having signed to partner Alex Albon at Williams on a multi-term deal, Colapinto knew his interim stint in 2024 was all he could get from the Grove-based squad. However, his performances and the much-talked-about downturn of Perez led to speculation that Colapinto could work his way into the Red Bull stable and Christian Horner was spotted heading to the Williams hospitality unit to converse with boss James Vowles in Sao Paulo.
The meeting was followed by a series of high-speed impacts for Colapinto, prompting Red Bull’s interest to dispel as the Austrian outfit elected to invest in its own up-and-coming prospects. Isack Hadjar, the F2 vice-champion, was selected to partner Yuki Tsunoda at Racing Bulls to fill the spot that became vacated when Liam Lawson was nominated to replace the ousted Perez.
But while Red Bull exiting the race could’ve guaranteed Colapinto a season on the sidelines, at least, another suitor started to emerge – one that would remain intrigued at a potential deal. Alpine Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore, well known for his ruthless man-management, told Auto Motor und Sport that Colapinto was a driver that had piqued his interest in recent times.
“I’m interested in any driver who is fast,” he said. “Colapinto surprised everyone. But we have contracts with Gasly, [Jack] Doohan and [reserve driver, Paul] Aron for next season. If there was an opportunity to get Colapinto for 2026, you have to think about it.”
Briatore doesn’t rule out mid-season driver swap
Doohan, who was announced as Esteban Ocon’s 2025 replacement back in August, was a topic of discussion between Briatore and La Parisien, whereby the Italian gave no assurances that the Australian would remain in his seat across the entire 24 rounds of the upcoming campaign.
“The only thing we can be sure of is death! We’ll start the year with Pierre and Jack, I can guarantee that.”
But Briatore has implied that Doohan’s continuation will depend on how he stacks up against Gasly as he reiterated his willingness to impose a mid-season change.
“After that, we’ll see as the season progresses,” he continued. “I have to get the team in the right condition to get results and the driver is the one who has to conclude the work of nearly 1,000 people behind him. Everyone works for just two people. If there’s a driver who isn’t making progress, who isn’t bringing me results, I change him. You can’t be emotional in F1.”
Doohan getting the nod to come in alongside Gasly this season came because at the time Alpine had a lack of viable options, having missed out on acquiring the in-demand Sainz. Meanwhile, promoting from within the Alpine Academy served to be a good look amid the Oscar Piastri fiasco back in mid-2022 that witnessed it lose a generational talent to rivals McLaren.
But upon his surprise debut at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP last month, Doohan provided a lot to be desired as he qualified slowest, almost six-tenths down on Gasly, and then proceeded to be the second last classified runner in the race as his team-mate bagged seventh.
Yes, the argument that Doohan had not been in a competitive racing environment since completing his sophomore F2 campaign in 2023 was a reasonable response, but he had accumulated substantial mileage in previous-spec F1 cars which Colapinto hadn’t been exposed to prior to all but matching team-mate Albon’s pace within a few rounds in 2024.
That appeared enough to be the trigger that encouraged Alpine to make the move to sign Colapinto, who has signed a multi-year deal to begin 2025 as the team’s reserve driver.
“We are very pleased to come to an agreement with Williams Racing to sign Franco Colapinto,” said Briatore. “Clearly, Franco is among the best young talents in motorsport right now. It is fair to say his appearance on the Formula 1 grid last year caught many, me included, by surprise and his performances have been very impressive for a rookie driver. We have an eye on our future and his signing means we have a great pool of young drivers to call upon and work with in developing the team for future success.”
Colapinto poised to replace Doohan if necessary
The intention with Alpine’s latest driver market movement is clear: Should Doohan fail to pass muster with Alpine, Colapinto will be called upon to take his place – either this term or in 2025.
Alpine wouldn’t have parted with the lucrative sum required to obtain Colapinto’s services without having plans to place him in the cockpit at some stage and it is worth remembering that he wasn’t regarded as an option at the point where Doohan’s promotion was communicated.
Had Colapinto been on the grid in advance and delivered the showings that he did, there can be little doubt that Briatore, who returned to Alpine last June, would have given him the nod.
Nevertheless, the veteran Italian has landed his man and even Vowles has admitted that he wouldn’t be surprised to see his ex-driver racing an Alpine car at some stage in 2025.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Alpine for Franco to join the team on a multi-year arrangement starting in 2025,” Vowles said. “Over nine memorable races with Williams he clearly showed he is deserving of a place in Formula 1 and we always said we would support him to get one.
“Williams has one of the most formidable driver line-ups on the grid for 2025 and beyond in Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, so we believe this agreement with Alpine represents Franco’s best chance of securing a race seat in 2025 or 2026.”
F1 is a cruel world sometimes and it appears that the clock is ticking on Doohan’s time in F1 when he hasn’t even had the chance to build momentum in his rookie season.
Words by Dan Lawrence and Taylor Powling
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