Why Alpine chose to promote Colapinto and bench Doohan

Alpine have opted to change things up with their driver line-up after just six Grands Prix in 2025, with Jack Doohan sent to the bench and Franco Colapinto stepping up to race alongside Pierre Gasly for the next five races. F1 Correspondent Lawrence Barretto digs into the story...

What an incredibly dramatic 12 hours it has been for Alpine. On Tuesday night, they made the shock announcement that Oliver Oakes would be leaving his role as Team Principal with immediate effect after just 10 months in the job, with Executive Adviser Flavio Briatore covering his duties.

Then on Wednesday morning, they revealed the more predictable news that Colapinto was stepping up to a race seat for next weekend's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola and at least the following four races, with Doohan demoted to reserve as part of an evaluation of their driver pool.

Doohan – who was embarking on his rookie campaign this year – has essentially had a target on his back ever since Alpine "entered into an agreement" with Williams in January to secure Colapinto's services on a multi-year deal that included him being reserve for 2025.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 13: Franco Colapinto, Reserve Driver, Alpine F1 looks on during — Franco Colapinto has been promoted to a race seat in place of Jack Doohan at Alpine

The Argentine driver had some high points during a nine-race stint replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams at the back end of last year, scoring points twice - and at his peak was linked with a move to the Red Bull family that would have included a start at Racing Bulls with the potential of a step up to Red Bull in the short term.

However his star began to fade with multiple low points, including crashing heavily three times to rack up a huge damage bill for the British team.

When speaking about why Williams had released Colapinto, whom they had signed on a long-term deal that would have seen him step back to reserve given Carlos Sainz had already been signed to partner Alex Albon, boss James Vowles explained it was effectively a loan because he wanted to find a way to get Colapinto a race seat as soon as possible while having the option to recall him in the future.

"I wanted him to be racing in 2025 or 2026," he said. "The best chance he has is with Alpine, as far as [getting a race seat in F1], that's why he's there. And I don't mean that to the detriment of Jack. I hope Jack has a successful time.

"But ultimately, Franco is my driver that I want back in the car. After a period of time, he'll return to Williams. That period of time is not a line set in stone where I can look you in the eye and say it. But I can say he'll be back to Williams at some point."

Amid the growing noise around the potential for a swap, Alpine have tried to downplay the chances as they focused on giving Doohan the support to prove he should be their race driver for the foreseeable.

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But while there have been flashes of speed – like in Bahrain where he was unlucky not to score – Doohan has ultimately failed to consistently deliver.

He remains point-less and also crashed heavily twice. The first came on the first lap in Australia and then, in Japanese Grand Prix practice, when he failed to close the DRS heading into the very fast Turn 1. Both incidents heaped the pressure on Doohan. To his credit, he remained resolute and kept his head down in a bid to turn his form around.

The Australian – son of motorcycling legend Mick Doohan – outqualified team mate Gasly for the first time last time out in Miami, but as has been the pattern this year, he couldn't build momentum and come race day, he collided with Liam Lawson into Turn 1 and ultimately retired.

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Sources say discussions about swapping Doohan out had been going on heading into Miami but intensified as the weekend progressed.

Colapinto brings significant financial backing to Alpine and, according to sources, there is scope for that support to increase now he has been promoted to a race seat for five races starting next time out in Imola.

He also brings starpower as well as a huge, passionate and engaged fanbase, having starred for Williams and become a national hero in his home country of Argentina. His impact was such that he is considered the nation's current second biggest sporting star behind footballing legend Lionel Messi.

MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 03: Fourteenth placed qualifier Jack Doohan of Australia and Alpine F1 looks — Doohan had seven race weekends with Alpine, his debut coming in Abu Dhabi at the 2024 season finale

And while he did clock up a big damage bill for Williams towards the end of his stint, the 21-year-old also proved he was capable of scoring points and getting up to speed very quickly.

Collectively, that makes Colapinto a very attractive package for Alpine, who are locked in a very tight midfield fight and currently sit ninth in the Teams' Championship on seven points.

As the team aren't fighting at the sharp end this is a great opportunity, as Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore admitted, to evaluate who is best to partner Gasly into the next rules cycle, which begins next year and marks a real opportunity for the team to make a big step up the pecking order.

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And by making the move now, Colapinto can attempt to build a rhythm on three tracks he knows across the triple header of Imola, Monaco and Spain, having raced at them in F2. Canada will be new but the fifth at Austria's Red Bull Ring will also be familiar territory.

This is the chance Colapinto has been pushing hard for from the moment he walked through the door at Alpine's Enstone base – and one he knew was possible when Williams came to an arrangement with Alpine.

He proved in his defined nine-race stint at Williams that he is capable of hitting the ground running. Do that and he will be favourite to keep the seat ahead of the team's next evaluation of their line-up before the British Grand Prix in July. In many ways, it's a bit of a shoot-out between the two.

MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 02: Oliver Oakes, Team Principal of Alpine F1 in the Team Principals Press — Oliver Oakes resigned as Alpine Team Principal, the day before the confirmation of Colapinto's promotion in place of Doohan

For Doohan, who joined the Alpine driver academy in 2022, he will focus on doing all he can to support the team and be the ultimate team player while hoping that he'll get a shot to return at Silverstone to stake his claim.

Regarding Oakes' resignation, it is the latest of a series of senior management changes that have blighted Alpine over the last two years.

The former boss of Hitech, which competes in the junior categories, was recruited by Briatore to replace Bruno Famin last summer.

That came after the departure of CEO Laurent Rossi, which triggered a domino effect, with Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer, Sporting Director Alan Permane, Chief Techical Officer Pat Fry, Technical Director Matt Harman, Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer and Director of Racing Expansion Projects Davide Brivio all leaving.

It remains unclear why Oakes left the team, with Briatore now taking on full responsibility for the racing outfit.