Alpine swap Jack Doohan for reserve driver Franco Colapinto

Written by Carl Hilliard

Alpine F1 team have confirmed that ex-Williams Racing driver Franco Colapinto will replace rookie Jack Doohan, following a string of scrutinised performances and results.

credit: F1

Doohan, in his very first full F1 season, has been axed by Alpine, who will now be replaced by the team's newest reserve driver and ex Williams Racing driver Colapinto. This decision, which has long been rumoured and discussed, has been confirmed by Alpine on Tuesday following Doohan's poor start to his maiden F1 voyage. Colapinto will drive for Alpine for the next five races, from which an evaluation will take place.

A recent incident involving Doohan and Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson during Sunday's 2025 Miami Grand Prix seemed to add the cherry on top of a multitude of episodes for the Australian driver, who was already struggling to make ends meet at Alpine. Crashes in Australia and Japan started his season off in all of the wrong ways, immediately giving himself a mountain to climb to pull the performances back in his favor.

Doohan during the Miami Grand Prix weekend. credit: Alpine Cars Media

It is no secret now that Alpine have been considering this switch, similiar to what Red Bull had done, when they opted to replace Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda after just two races. Horacio Marin, CEO of Argentine company YPF, was accidentally caught on microphone stating that Colapinto would in fact be in the Alpine seat for the Grand Prix at Imola.

Colapinto joined Alpine at the start of the 2025 F1 season, having previously enjoyed quite an impressive stint at Williams last season, where he replaced then struggling driver Logan Sargeant.

Colapinto scored points on his outing at Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and captured fans for his raw talent, something Alpine obviously kept quite an eye on.

With Colapinto now alongside Alpine mainstay Pierre Gasly, they will be looking to make up ground on missed opportunities throughout the season thus far, and the Argentine driver seems to be exactly what they are looking for.