Franco Colapinto to replace Jack Doohan, but only for the next 5 rounds

If you think the early season switch between Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson between the two RB teams was crazy, the silly season continues even further as Alpine suddenly says that it will be swapping rookie Jack Doohan out for 2024’s wildcard: Franco Colapinto, effective for the upcoming Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

But this comes at a catch, as Doohan will be demoted to a reserve driver, and Colapinto will have five race weekends to prove his worth, otherwise, he will be put back in the roster of reserve drivers as the team has decided to “rotate the race seat”. Doohan originally made his debut at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, replacing Esteban Ocon (now Haas), giving him a little more time to get used to the car compared to other rookies in the season.

Unfortunately, Alpine’s assessment of Doohan after a string of unimpressive performances proved he would not be worthy of the seat, such as not being able to match teammate Pierre Gasly’s performance, alongside a few high-profile crashes like in Suzuka, where he failed to close his drag reduction system before going into Turn 1.

Colapinto had a notable stint in late 2024 when he replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams, getting points in a few races, but also crashing out in two of them. His short time behind the seat of the Williams was enough to garner the attention of several team principals, even causing a bit of a stir online regarding if he was going to get a seat or not for 2025.

Will this be enough for Alpine to recover points and catch up in the championship, or will this be another case of throwing a driver into the frying pan and expecting results, only for him to fail? Find out in the next five races.

Photos from Formula 1