It’s a tired journalistic cliché to describe a piece of breaking news as “not a surprise.”
But it is one that undoubtedly applies in the case of Franco Colapinto replacing Jack Doohan from the next round in Imola.Flavio Briatore, who returned to Formula 1 as a consultant to Alpine in the middle of last year, was long thought so enamoured with Colapinto that doubts over Doohan’s future emerged before he even made his debut for Alpine.
Then there was the small matter of Colapinto’s sponsor accidentally announcing his impending Imola debut for the team during an interview for an Argentinian news channel last week. Despite the team’s denials, this morning it confirmed Doohan’s place will go to Colapinto for the next five rounds at least.
Doohan isn’t the first driver to lose his seat this year, though at least Liam Lawson had a parachute landing at Racing Bulls following his ejection from their sister squad. But was Doohan doomed by his results – and is Colapinto a hot enough talent to deserve his drive?
For
In his seven races since debuting for Alpine at Yas Marina last year, Doohan has struggled to distinguish himself. He’s had too many crashes and failed to score a single point.
Last year Colapinto showed it’s not unrealistic to expect a driver promoted from Formula 2 to be competitive immediately. He wasn’t error-free, but was a much closer match for his team mate than Doohan has been.
After a similar number of races, Colapinto seems the better prospect. This is a tough but fair call.
Against
Doohan made progress during his spell at Alpine. His lap time deficit to Pierre Gasly has been respectable for a rookie, though the closeness of the midfield has exaggerated the gap in terms of places, and he even qualified ahead of his team mate last week.
Colapinto proved no less crash-prone last at Williams last year than Doohan has. He appears to have got the Alpine drive partly thanks to the sponsorship he brings.
Doohan deserved a full season to prove himself and Alpine did not give him a fair chance.
I say
It’s easy to understand the sympathy for Doohan. But he hasn’t been especially impressive over his first few races as a Formula 1 driver. He crashed out on the first lap last weekend in Miami, just as he did at his home race two months earlier.
He tangled with rivals in China and missed a chance to score points in Bahrain. This and more explains why he’s currently tied at the bottom of RaceFans’ driver ratings with the only other driver to lose his seat so far this year, Liam Lawson.
But Alpine showed a conspicuous lack of faith in him and it’s hard to imagine that didn’t have an effect. The writing was on the wall once they needlessly benched him for the first practice session at Suzuka, one of the toughest tracks on the calendar.
Given that, judging whether Doohan deserved to keep his seat based on his performances so far feels somewhat naive. Any team which is serious about running two competitive cars should be prepared to stand by the drivers they put in them for longer than six rounds. If Doohan is being judged not up to that standard now then Alpine’s management should ask themselves why they put him in the car in the first place.
You say
Have Alpine made the right decision? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
Do you agree Alpine have made the correct decision to replace Doohan with Colapinto?
- No opinion (0%)
- Strongly disagree (29%)
- Slightly disagree (27%)
- Neither agree nor disagree (4%)
- Slightly agree (23%)
- Strongly agree (17%)
Total Voters: 113
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David
7th May 2025, 11:20
It’s easy to feel sympathy for Doohan. But he hasn’t shown anything behind the wheel that suggests he’s worth keeping.
Franco is the right choice for the seat.
hje
7th May 2025, 12:29
He literally outqualified Gasly last Saturday, and got crashed out of the race on lap 1 – so he couldn’t do anything more. Was that his fault?
poweiss
7th May 2025, 14:30
Yes he could’ve avoided that, look what Lando did in similar situation with Max in lap 1
polweiss
7th May 2025, 14:42
Yes he could’ve avoided that, look what Lando did in similar situation with Max in lap 1
An Sionnach
7th May 2025, 23:05
I’d say that Gasly shouldn’t feel to secure, either. Let’s see how he does against Colapinto! Jack showed some speed, so there might be potential there. I’m not sure I’ve heard a driver or team boss so full of inane management speak. He wrecks my head, but that wouldn’t matter if he could drive the car!
An Sionnach
7th May 2025, 23:10
I’d hazard a guess that had Flavio been around Alpine wouldn’t have lost Piastri and might have moved to Mercedes engines sooner.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
7th May 2025, 11:27
I think it would have been better to wait until at least the summer break. It’s not as if Alpine are in a massive battle for top of the midfield.
Stick Franco in the simulator and have him work his backside off helping to develop the 2026 car and give him the drive then for whatever the team ends up being called by then.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th May 2025, 12:46
Yeah, we all knew that giving Lawson only a few races by RB was BS – it basically meant Red Bull admitting they had promoted the wrong guy, here it’s clear that Alpine had some kind of obligation to give Doohan a chance but never looked like REALLY giving him a chance.
Is Doohan worthy of F1? hard to say so far, although at least he did out-qualify his pretty highly rated teammate Gasly. A rookie should be given some chance to show what he can, why otherwise even put in the effort to put him in the car in the first place.
Boy can we all be glad Piastri got out of this mess and into McLaren in time.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
7th May 2025, 11:31
It helps Alpine in that they won’t have to keep sabotaging one of their drivers next race.
Avro Anson (@avroanson)
7th May 2025, 11:34
Doohan has hardly had a fair trial, even to the extent of having his FP1 drive at Suzuka given to a reserve driver. And while he has had a couple of crashes, he’s been far safer than Colapinto, who had a pretty bad crash record at Williams.
Let’s face it – Alpine are a clown show and drivers would be well advised to avoid them. Just think how Piastri’s record would look now if he hadn’t jumped to McLaren.
nunof
8th May 2025, 17:28
The Colapinto replacement is a lot about the money that he brings and how much Alpine paid for his contract.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
7th May 2025, 11:34
I was Doohan’s secret fan after he was dug out before he’d even started and his speed looked evident but unfortunately not on a consistent basis and the shunts were really the end for him, whether he was at fault or not, you stay out of trouble or you are in trouble. Completely correct decision in all ways as long as you ignore any morality.
Ankita
7th May 2025, 12:03
Totally agree except for the issues of morality. I don’t think Doohan deserved that seat in the first place as he hasn’t won anything in a relevant category (correct me if I am wrong). He was given 7 races to show his worth but unfortunately he didn’t show anything worth keeping him in the team. It is sad, but if you don’t have what it takes you must be step aside. But that’s not a moral question in my view.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
7th May 2025, 12:10
The morality was saying we have your replacement lined up before he turned a wheel. Flavio is Pinto’s manager, he has big funds and a ready made fanbase. It may be F1 but Doohan is still a human being and that is no way to treat one
Mariano (@mariano)
7th May 2025, 20:32
Just to clarify Briatore isn’t Colapintos’s manager.
BenjaminS (@benihana)
7th May 2025, 17:45
Sorry but having been told you have 7 races to either shape up or ship out even before turning a wheel is not a good treatment to show what you have for in the tank. You just end up starting on the wrong foot and despite his somewhat okay start he was doomed to fail just because the team f’3d up this whole strategy from the beginning. Franco is a good driver but never really showed great things in F3 or F2 either and is quite similar in record to Antonelli who had a terrible 2024 F2 season. So let us not rush to bloody conclusions before we even give these guys a proper shot.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
7th May 2025, 11:40
I think Colapinto will be the better performer of the two.
We all knew this was coming though, didn’t we?
Briatore must be kicking himself over having spent money signing Jack before getting his hands on Franco.
anon
7th May 2025, 21:23
@nullapax Briatore is also Doohan’s manager, so there is speculation that he would have received a bonus payment when Doohan signed his contract with Alpine.
There has been a rather cynical take that, from a personal point of view, Briatore might have wanted Doohan to be signed for Alpine for the financial bonus payments he’d receive for striking a deal. Once that deal was signed and the bonus payment collected, it was then a case of shifting his attention to Colapinto’s sponsors to see how much money he could squeeze from them before striking a deal to get him in and Doohan out.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
8th May 2025, 9:56
Wow – the plot certainly does thicken.
Interesting stuff.
PeteB (@peteb)
7th May 2025, 11:51
Hate to say it but I think it makes sense… Doohan hasn’t shown anything to suggest he’ll be a top driver in F1. If he gets the time, he might become a solid midfield driver but if that’s the ceiling, why put up with the rookie mistakes now? Alpine could sign a solid midfield driver fairly easily anyway. You go with rookies because you believe they’ll develop into something better than you would have been able to sign otherwise.
Colapinto may do no better than Doohan but why not try him out for a few races and find out.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th May 2025, 10:16
Yes, this makes good sense, you can find a lot of solid midfield drivers, even among those who are not on the grid atm, like bottas and perez, the former wants to come back badly too.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
7th May 2025, 12:05
If I had to choose between situations like those of Perez and Sargeant, who were given too much time to perform, and this one, I’d choose the latter. It takes time to adapt, but talents show speed from the start as other rookies have shown.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
7th May 2025, 13:22
I suspect the time Perez was given would have been his contract. Sponsors, money, lawyers etc. If he’d been a regular Red Bull junior I’m sure he’d have got a text from Helmut a long time earlier.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th May 2025, 12:14
Franco’s ceilling is higher, it was clear to see after last year. Yes, he ended the year crashing a lot, but so did Alex Albon and he’s no rookie.
I think, if Alpine doesn’t continue to implode, a Gasly-Colapinto partnership can raise the game for the team, which they badly need.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
7th May 2025, 12:34
I went for strongly disagree. Feels like ever since Alpine signed Colapinto, Doohan was on borrowed time and that always felt a little uncomfortable. I kinda feel bad for the guy, the pressure of joining F1 is already huge but knowing that your boss is already itching to get you out must have made it even worse. He deserved more time, given his career’s essentially over now – unlike Lawson who’s still got a drive and the chance to prove himself. What does Doohan do now? Hope Gasly moves on? Go to another team and start again which could take years? Like I’m surprised Alpine managed to come across colder in driver changes than Red Bull.
asz
7th May 2025, 12:51
I have a lot of sympathy, in general, for everyone who is not given a fair chance, and he was undeniably sabotaged in Suzuka, but
in itself should be something you can deal with at this level, where exceptional mental strength is a prerequisite. In fact, for someone strong-minded enough, it might provide extra motivation.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th May 2025, 10:57
Perez dealt with this exceptionally well when he was fired for reasons unrelated to his performance, and managed to convince red bull to hire him despite not being a red bull junior, which is a big achievement.
baasbas
7th May 2025, 13:12
@rocketpanda
I feel bad for Doohan because this was his F1 career. He’s done. And he’s not at fault*. But objectively, to me at least this seems like the correct thing to do. Colapinto looked to me the better choice anyway. So for all the sympathy I have for Doohan, I’d vote strongly agree.
*if you can call not doing enough to seize a spot and make them think about replacing the other driver instead a fault at all
Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2025, 13:10
I think ‘slightly agree’ is the most fitting choice for now & an even better way to put the matter is as follows:
Sponsorship & marketability-wise: Yes, this call was right.
Purely based on meritocracy: Probably also the right call despite the crash damage Colapinto caused towards last season’s end.
dot_com (@dot_com)
7th May 2025, 13:23
I voted slightly disagree. I was a little surprised that Alpine picked him to drive in the first place, given the number of available drivers. So on the one hand he was fortunate to get his chance in F1. On the other hand, 6 races doesn’t seem like enough – he’s in an uncompetitive car with a very experienced team mate, and you’d have to say this is probably going to be the end of his career. Pinto will probably be the better driver in the long run, but Alpine really should have honored their decision and given Jack some more time in the car. But we all knew it would happen, Briatore wants his new Schumacher/Alonso.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2025, 14:58
I understand them choosing him to succeed Ocon in the first place since they’d invested in his racing career since 2022.
For that matter, they indeed had other viable options after Sainz’s rejection, such as Bottas, Magnussen (although he would’ve probably still declined), & Zhou to whom they could’ve offered a full-time drive had they wanted to.
S Arkazam
7th May 2025, 13:49
FTFY ;)
PS I don’t think though that he was such a disaster that he qualified for that.
Riker (@corsair)
7th May 2025, 14:43
Not the right call. This is Alpine at the mercy of Flavio. Flavio controls it all. I can’t stand that corrupt grub of a human being. Doohan should just leave Alpine. It’ll be better for his mental health. Alpine are a disgrace.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
8th May 2025, 0:14
+1 to that. The wrong decision Alpine made was bringing back a man who coerced his charge into endangering his life in order to swing a race. Someone who does that should never manage another human being, nor be permitted into a team unless that team wants to be tainted with his cheating.
polweiss
7th May 2025, 14:43
From the very beginning of the season, it was established by contract that each driver would be assessed over five races. Dohan has already completed his portion, and now it’s Franco’s turn to showcase his skills. The final races are still pending a decision.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
7th May 2025, 16:42
I disagree because I think Doohan has shown solid raw pace from his very first practice session of the season as well as some improvement with him obviously out-qualifying Gasly for the first time last weekend.
If Doohan had been miles away from Gasly, Looked completely out of his depth and showing no signs of improvement then i’d say it’s probably a fair decision but that simply wasn’t the case here. As such I think he deserved at least until the half way point of the season to be really able to properly evaluate to see if he was able to continue showing improvement.
I also in general recently don’t like the modern trend of giving rookies less time in F1 cars that used to be the case when testing was unrestricted and then constantly almost looking for things to justify getting rid of them almost from the first time they sit in a car. Yes been an F1 driver always brought an element of scrutiny and pressure but it also used to bring time as rookies were typically given a year and sometimes more to learn and improve (Especially the younger ones) yet now it seems they are lucky to be given a handful of races and i’m just not sure this is for the benefit of many of them.
And a final point. If Alpine….. Well maybe more Briatore’s main interest in Colapinto is the sponsorship cash from South America then does this not also suggest that teams financial situations may not be as positive under the budget caps and increased F1 revenue as Liberty and others within F1 would like to suggest?
Philip Roden
7th May 2025, 17:00
Alpine are just trying to get the two best drivers that they can. I think most people would agree that Colopinto is an upgrade on Doohan
MichaelN
7th May 2025, 17:17
It’s a sensible choice. Colapinto showed more promise, and indeed results, than Doohan has.
But Doohan hasn’t made himself look bad. He was decent enough. He’ll do well enough in sportscars if he cares for that.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
7th May 2025, 18:14
Like a lot of people I think Doohan just deserved a bit more time. It seems that some within his own team (Briatore, obvs) were willing him to fail right from the start. That cannot be the best environment to be in. He should have had until the summer break.
Colapinto looked pretty good in the few races he had, and who knows, he may turn out to be a better choice. I have nothing against him. But Doohan ought to have been given a proper chance. There is no plan B to fall back on for him unlike with the Red Bull organisation. It’s poor and brutal management. No wonder Oakes resigned. Yet another team principle at Alpine to leave after a few months.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
7th May 2025, 18:17
Principal !!
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
7th May 2025, 21:11
Yes…not a principle in sight.
Riccard
7th May 2025, 18:16
The driver change in itself is understandable if that’s the view of team management.
Changing the driver over the head of the team principal, Briatore literally telling the driver he’s out when he knows the team principal disagrees, triggering the principal to resign – is extremely foolish.
That’s what’s been reported in some outlets.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
7th May 2025, 18:18
I strongly disagreed.
There are other rookies doing worse who are (reasonably) given more leeway. Six races isn’t long enough for any driver to get their feet fully under the table. Even Carlos Sainz, a very experienced driver, said he was going to need 10 races to get fully used to Williams – and that’s someone who has learned F1 thoroughly and is known to be competent (sometimes rather more) at it.
Doohan was improving and he wasn’t making many major mistakes. He might not have been flashy but he was already an effective #2 driver, which is an asset to Alpine as it develops its way up the grid. Throwing that out, and disrupting the carefully-built systems, to put in another driver is unlikely to be compensated by the rise in theoretical skill Colapinto gives, because the extra speed will be outweighed by the opportunity cost in development and momentum. Especially given that the move also appears to have turned the team into the personal fief of Flavio Briatore, whose ideas for how to run a team were outmoded and increasingly ineffective in 2008, let alone now.
(He’s also forgotten that in modern F1, team bosses don’t get as much time as they used to in order to get their feet under the table. Andrea Stella has the third-longest stint as team principal currently serving in F1, and he started in post at the beginning of 2023).
Zach Bigalke (@bigalke)
8th May 2025, 10:57
Vasseur also took over as principal at Ferrari in 2023. Youre still technically correct, though (the best kind of correct) — Andrea was announced as the new TP at McLaren ten days before Ferrari announced Fred was on board.
Dane
7th May 2025, 19:01
It feels harsh but my gut says Colaptino is probably the better driver. With the midfield so tight, they need every point.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
7th May 2025, 20:54
Alpine is simply chaos and has been for years. This is just another predictable chapter in their instability. Hopefully this’ll end up being a blessing in disguise for Doohan but unfortunately he hasn’t had the time to show enough strong performances to attract another team. This just highlights yet again what a great move Webber and Piastri made by jumping to McLaren. They sure dodged a bullet!
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
7th May 2025, 23:58
Seems like Colapinto has has 2-3 crashes during some private testing that he’s been doing for Alpine in a 2023 car at Monza & Qatar.
I know that the engineering team at Alpine think more of Doohan than they do Colapinto, In particular because Doohan apparently gave very good feedback and was very good at directing setup changes to resolve some of the instability the car can suffer from. And that was one of the key reasons they pulled Gasly’s car out of Parc-Ferme in Miami, To put Doohan’s setup on the car.
Colapinto is less good at those things and there is concern that losing Jack’s feedback is going to stall progress because Gasly has got a bit lost in that area this year at times and has more than once ended up looking at Doohan’s setup and going more in that direction with his own.
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
8th May 2025, 12:52
Doohan never was good enough and only got the position out of desperation and Flav being his manager. As soon as Colapinto came available it was a no brainer from a performance and business perspective. It’s a cutthroat business and this is the right decision.
As a Williams fan, I wish we had Albon and Colapinto to resemble the feel good Mercedes duo like a ‘poor mans Russell Antonelli’ type balance. As well as the substantial money that would have been saved on Sainz and made in Colapinto sponsorship.
I’m also confident Colapinto would have gathered us more than 7 points.
J765
8th May 2025, 17:15
Colapinto is a better fit for Alpine now that Briatore is the boss. He loves drivers who crash.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th May 2025, 11:16
Ahah, that’s a good one, the famous championship deciding crash by schumacher in adelaide 1994, crashgate in 2008!
AndrewMansell (@andrewmansell)
8th May 2025, 22:54
People will say my comment is biased, but VAMOS FRANCO!
Honestly Jack did not show anything good, worst rookie algong with bortoleto. For me its a no brainer choice but its not fair. I don’t like the team nor Flavio. 5 races its good enough to see his pace and we will judge everything from other perspective.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th May 2025, 11:11
I went for slightly agree, just like with lawson’s demotion, in the sense it’s a bit few races, but if a driver is not performing at the level expected or hoped by the team and they have a potentially better driver waiting, might as well go for it, I would say however that imo doohan didn’t do as badly as lawson did at red bull, it’s more of a “colapinto might be better” than “whoever we replace him with will be better”.