One of Franco Colapinto’s sponsors has ignited speculation he will return to a Formula 1 race seat following an unguarded remark during a live interview.
Horacio Marin, CEO of Argentinian energy firm YPF, was asked on news channel A24 when its driver would make his “debut.” The interview concluded after he originally responded “I don’t know”, but a microphone picked up Marin adding “in Imola” moments later.Imola will hold the seventh round of the season, following this weekend’s race in Miami.
Colapinto already made his F1 race debut for Williams last year, at the Italian Grand Prix. He has long been rumoured as a potential replacement for Jack Doohan, who has started six grands prix for Alpine.
A “debut” for Colapinto at Imola might not involve him taking over Doohan’s race seat. Alpine could give him an outing in one of the practice sessions at the Italian track.
Ordinarily, teams only do this with drivers who have started no more than two grands prix and therefore count towards their quota of rookie appearances in practice sessions. However Alpine has already replaced Doohan for one session this year without it counting towards that quota, when Ryo Hirakawa drove in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka earlier.
Doohan is yet to score a point in his first season of F1. His experienced team mate Pierre Gasly achieved the team’s only points finish so far this year at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
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Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes previously described speculation over Doohan’s future at the team as “not fair”. The team’s executive consultant Flavio Briatore is rumoured to favour promoting Colapinto, who scored five points over his nine appearances for Williams at the end of last season. Colapinto has already taken part in tests of Alpine’s older cars along with fellow reserve driver Paul Aron.
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Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
30th April 2025, 11:54
I genuinely sympathize with Doohan, but honestly this outcome was totally predictable. Anyone familiar with F1 pre-2009 knows exactly what to expect from Flavio Briatore, this is classic behavior. Brace yourself, more shenanigans to come…
MichaelN
30th April 2025, 14:26
Doohan may have been gifted a poisoned chalice, but he also hadn’t done much to attract attention and create enthusiasm about his participation.
In such a crowded midfield, swapping a driver might bring good results. Are they really shenanigans if Colapinto does better?
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
30th April 2025, 15:31
Doohan was hired quite early last season and at a time when Alpine was the slowest car. It seemed like he was hired to have a driver at all, because Alpine thought it had no chance of hiring anybody else. Doohan was never hired, because Alpine thought he was their future. So from day 1 the talk was always only about how long he would last.
P.S. I find it very weird how some people think that trying to hire the best drivers for your team is “shenanigans”.
anon
30th April 2025, 15:45
The issue is that the rumoured incentive to hire Colapinto isn’t his potential performance, but the potential sponsorship package that he will bring.
To that end, there is a belief they want Doohan out as quickly as possible to maximise the revenue they can get from Colaponto’s sponsors, rather than it being about wanting the best drivers for the team (particularly when there is a perception Renault wants to run the team as cheaply as possible and is mainly looking at how to wring the most money out of it, rather than the best performance).
El Pollo Loco
1st May 2025, 2:03
It’s not his potential too? He looked a whole lot more promising than Jack has. Some use the fact that he also brings a lot more sponsorship like it is an accusation. He’s not a rich kid, which means it’s a sign of exciting potential rather than another untalented pay driver scenario.
El Pollo Loco
30th April 2025, 16:18
Add to the fact that now Albon has a strong measuring stick and has been verified as a very strong driver, it shows exactly how good Colapinto’s debut was. He adjusted to the Williams far faster than Sainz and stacked up better to him as well. It shows what a great prospect he is.
As for Jack, he’s done OK, but he’s looked like what most people expected out of him. Solid enough, but not special. Hadjar’s had less junior formula experience and is looking worlds better. For that matter, every other rookie has looked more impressive than him, unless you include Lawson as a rookie. There’s not been so much to pick between them.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th April 2025, 12:06
In other words, Colapinto will become a full-time driver at Alpine from the Emilia-Romagna GP onwards.
Yes, the alternative theory of a mere practice session running itself is possible, albeit it’d be totally pointless since Colapinto is too experienced to meet the relevant rule criteria, not that Alpine hasn’t acted abnormally regarding this rule before, including when they ran Doohan in last season’s Canadian GP FP1 despite Circuit Gilles Villeneuve being a circuit teams tend to avoid for the purpose just like with any fully temporary circuits & semi-permanent temporary circuits.
However, given the question’s point, the inadvertently picked-up ‘in Imola’ reference was definitely about racing from that circuit onwards, or otherwise, he wouldn’t have said that shortly after the interview conclusion.
All in all, everything has clearly already been decided in the background, with a formal confirmation only a matter of time, which can occur at any time starting from this week until the Emilia-Romagna GP week.
GeeMac (@geemac)
30th April 2025, 13:51
It may not be pointless, two reasons I thought of other than those you highlight above could be:
(1) it’s in the terms of the sponsorship deal with his backers that he gets so many FP1s a year; or
(2) They could put him in Gasly’s car and use the session as a chance to compare Doohan and Colapinto in the same conditions.
Jere (@jerejj)
30th April 2025, 16:07
Viable possibilities, which I hadn’t thought about at all.
Simon
30th April 2025, 21:10
Must be a record, taking four paragraphs with a whole load of hypothesising…
Doohan has a reported/rumoured five-race ‘probationary period’, which has now passed. Time will tell if Marin has jumped the gun. Alpine will to decide what they want to do – when Alpine make the decision, that’s when the decision’s made
El Pollo Loco
1st May 2025, 1:59
Simon the Stalker, your post is almost unintelligible. Sounds like you were drunk when you wrote it. I’ve literally never seen you post here besides to reply to Jere. It’s sad.
El Pollo Loco
30th April 2025, 16:26
Many seem more worried about Briatore than who is actually the better prospect, which is Colapinto by far. I have been rooting for Jack and he has shown himself to be competent, but not much more. His best flashes of speed just put him near Gasly while Bearman has been far out performing Ocon who Gasly was in a dead even heat with during their time together.
So, forgetting Briatore for a moment, is there really any good argument for Alpine keeping Doohan over Colapinto? Besides, Doohan will be fine. He’s handsome. Has a famous last name. And can/will have a long career as a WEC, IndyCar, Formula E, etc. driver. Hardly the end of the world (a dream life for myself and 99.9% of the world).
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
30th April 2025, 18:36
+1
Colapinto needed fewer races to show something special and make a name for himself. Doohan was under pressure before the season started but he was given a fair chance, something Lawson didn’t get.
El Pollo Loco
1st May 2025, 2:12
Not sure LL earned the chance to be in the RBR in the first place and his performances were so alarming, I think they made the right decision after making a very silly, politically driven decision to give Lawson the seat in the first place. A bit typical of its dysfunctional behavior. Yuki’s shown it was the right decision too IMO. Hadjar is now highly rated, which is great for LL as his reputation will be restored if he ends up beating him.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
30th April 2025, 20:58
I wouldn’t take the words lf anyone related with that government as true, tbh.