BWT Alpine F1 Team have announced that Franco Colapinto will replace Jack Doohan from the 2025 F1 Imola Grand Prix. The announcement follows a string of disappointing performances by the Australian driver, including a first-lap retirement at the Miami Grand Prix.
A partnership stretching back to 2022
Doohan’s relationship with Alpine dates back to 2022, when he joined the Alpine Academy. The programme supported him through his first full season in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. Although he finished sixth in that year’s standings, Alpine continued to back him into 2023, during which he balanced his F2 title challenge with his role as a reserve driver. In 2024, he transitioned into that reserve role full-time.
In August 2024, Alpine confirmed that Doohan would step up to Formula 1 for 2025, replacing Esteban Ocon, who had left the Enstone-based team for Haas in contentious fashion. Doohan, therefore, became the first Alpine Academy driver to graduate to a Formula 1 race seat—marking a significant milestone for the team’s junior programme. He made his Formula 1 debut at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, replacing the departing Ocon. He qualified twentieth and finished fifteenth. A few days later, he returned to the cockpit for the Yas Marina post-season test, where he completed 137 laps and posted the eighth-fastest time overall. That test marked the beginning of his short-lived F1 career.
A difficult season at Alpine for Doohan as Colapinto looms
Despite the promising start and a contract in place, Doohan’s 2025 campaign began on unstable footing. Speculation soon emerged that he could be replaced mid-season by Franco Colapinto. After stepping in at Williams Racing to replace Logan Sargeant—who departed following an underwhelming one-and-a-half-year spell—Colapinto made the most of his opportunity. He contested nine races and scored five points. However, with Williams securing Alexander Albon on a renewed deal and signing Carlos Sainz on a multi-year contract, Colapinto found himself without a seat for 2025.
Consequently, whispers of a switch to Alpine gained traction, especially as Doohan’s form faltered. He opened the season with a challenging home Grand Prix in Australia, qualifying fourteenth but crashing out on the opening lap in wet conditions. The next round in China brought further setbacks. He finished twentieth in the sprint after colliding with Gabriel Bortoleto, then came home thirteenth in the main race after forcing Isack Hadjar off track—both incidents earned him 10-second time penalties.
At the Japanese Grand Prix, his fortunes worsened. During second free practice, he failed to close his DRS through the flat-out First Turn, spinning into the barriers at 260 km/h. He qualified nineteenth and finished fifteenth.
Doohan’s best weekend came in Bahrain, where he qualified eleventh and finished fourteenth. However, a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits tempered any progress. The following race in Saudi Arabia saw his struggles return. A strategy gamble under the safety car backfired, leaving him seventeenth in both qualifying and the race.
Rumours of Colapinto replacing Doohan at Alpine resurface after hot mic moment
Although speculation briefly died down after the opening triple-header, it resurfaced dramatically following a hot mic incident involving one of Colapinto’s major sponsors. During a live interview on Argentine news channel A24, Horacio Marín, President and CEO of YPF, appeared to hint at Colapinto’s return to the grid. When pressed by host Eduardo Feinmann on the Argentine’s F1 future, Marín publicly claimed he didn’t know. However, as the segment ended, a hot mic caught him quietly saying, “In Imola.”
Marín’s comments emerged just days after Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes publicly backed Doohan, praising his efforts after a difficult weekend in Saudi Arabia. Despite the poor results, Oakes told media that the Australian had “done a good job.”
Doohan’s disappointing Miami GP
Unfortunately, Doohan failed to deliver a turnaround in Miami. After qualifying seventeenth on Friday, he finished sixteenth in Saturday’s chaotic Sprint race. He managed to qualify fourteenth for Sunday’s Grand Prix, but his race ended almost immediately after a collision with Liam Lawson on the opening lap. With Alpine struggling to score points and with teammate Pierre Gasly having outqualified him in all but one race, rumours of his replacement reignited with renewed intensity.
Alpine make decision on Doohan and Colapinto
Finally, after months of mounting speculation, Alpine brought the drawn-out Doohan-Colapinto saga to an end. The team confirmed that the Argentine would replace Doohan from the 2025 F1 Imola Grand Prix.
In a statement released by Alpine, Doohan stated: “I am 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.”
“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.”
