Doohan F1 dream over… for now

Jack Doohan’s rookie F1 season has been cut short after just six races with Alpine confirming the promotion of Franco Colapinto.

After much speculation, Alpine has made it official Argentine Colapinto will replace Doohan in the next five races starting with the upcoming Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

Critically Doohan has not been dumped altogether, as he will remain part of the team as a Reserve Driver.

Interestingly Alpine has stated the seat has been “rotated” and the situation will be revaluated before the British Grand Prix.

“As part of an on-going assessment of its driver line-up, the team has made the decision to rotate one of its race seats for the next five rounds of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship,” said an Alpine statement.

“BWT Alpine Formula One Team therefore announces that Franco Colapinto will be paired with Pierre Gasly from the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, ahead of a new evaluation before the British Grand Prix in July.

“Jack Doohan remains an integral part of the team and will be the first-choice Reserve Driver for this period of time.”

Franco Colapinto raced against Pierre Gasly last year and now they will be teammates. Photo by Alastair Staley / LAT Images

Even before the 2025 season had started, Doohan was under significant pressure to perform and retain his seat at Alpine due to the presence of reserve driver Colapinto.

The Aussie has not helped himself with incidents at Australia, China, Japan and Miami, but has shown some promise as well.

Doohan outqualified his more experienced teammate Pierre Gasly for the first time in Miami and has a best result of 13^th at China, which is a result neither Alpine driver could better across the first five races of 2024.

After an up and down weekend in Miami that may have contained that qualifying performance, but also featured an outburst following Sprint Qualifying and an opening lap retirement, the constant rumours surrounding Doohan’s future went into overdrive.

Reports suggested the 22-year-old was informed of his dropping before leaving Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night and two days later it is now official.

Jack Doohan on track during the Sprint at the 2025 F1 Miami Grand Prix. Image: BWT Alpine F1 Team.

Despite the disappointment, Doohan remains “very proud” to achieve his dream of being Australia’s 19^th F1 driver.

“I am very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional Formula 1 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.”

Colapinto came from nowhere last year as Logan Sargeant’s replacement at Williams for the final nine races of the season.

He immediately impressed with eighth and 10^th at Azerbaijan and USA respectively.

Colpapinto has an inferior F3 and F2 record to Doohan with five wins compared to the Australian’s 10.

But he has the backing of Flavio Briatore, memories of 2024 and lots of Argentine supporters.

“Firstly, I want to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to drive competitively for the next five races,” said Colapinto.

Franco Colapinto with Williams boss James Vowles.Photo by Sam Bloxham / LAT Images

“I will work hard with the team to prepare for the next race in Imola and the upcoming triple-header, which will no doubt be intense and a big challenge for everyone.

“I have stayed sharp, and I am as ready as possible with the team’s race support testing programme, as well as on the simulator at Enstone. I will do my best to get up to speed quickly and give it my all to deliver the best possible results alongside Pierre.”

The news comes just a day after the sudden resignation of Oliver Oakes as team principal.

As a result, former disgraced team principal Briatore is effectively back calling the shots at the Enstone based team, 17 years after the infamous “crash gate” scandal at Singapore 2008.

Briatore said Alpine will “keep supporting” Doohan.

“Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races,” he explained.

Flavio Briatore. Photo by Michael Potts / LAT Images

“With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up.

“We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year.

“We continue to support Jack at the team, as he has acted in a very professional manner in his role as a race driver so far this season.

“The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.”

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