Alpine has confirmed Jack Doohan will not race for the team at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
The team’s reserve driver Franco Colapinto will replace him for the event at Imola.Alpine said in a statement Colapinto will take Doohan’s place for the next five rounds at Imola, Monaco, Catalunya, Montreal and Red Bull Ring. The team then intends to re-evaluate its driver line-up before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The team’s plans were revealed last week when one of Colapinto’s sponsors said he expected the driver to make his debut at Imola. Although the report was denied by Alpine’s team principal Oliver Oakes on Friday, Oakes resigned his position at the team yesterday.
Alpine’s executive consultant Flavio Briatore has taken over Oakes’s role. He said the team had taken the decision to rotate its drivers because of the team’s improved performance since last year.
“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.”
Doohan has started seven grands prix for the team, the first coming at last year’s season finale at Yas Marina. However even before then rumours emerged that some in the team were keen to hire Colapinto, who made an impressive debut for Williams over the final nine rounds of last season.
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The speculation grew after Alpine hired Colapinto as a reserve driver in January, one of four contracted to the team at the time, and subsequently signed deals with his sponsors.
Doohan’s future at the team looked shakier after they benched him during the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. They ran Ryo Hirakawa instead, a substitution which did not count towards the team’s quota of rookie driver runs, as they had already fulfilled that obligation on Doohan’s car.
Alpine said Doohan remains part of their team. “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,” said Briatore. “The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.”
Doohan, who made his F1 debut at the final round of last season, said he was proud to have achieved his ambition to become an F1 driver. “Obviously this latest chapter is a tough one for me to take because, as a professional driver, naturally I want to be racing,” he said. “That said, I appreciate the team’s trust and commitment.”
Colapinto said joining the team in time for the run of three consecutive rounds beginning next week will 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.”
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BasCB (@bascb)
7th May 2025, 8:08
In news that doesn’t surprise anyone (especially after that sponsor spilling the beans a week ago and Alpine not clearly being able to deny it). Well, at least Doohan got to out-qualify Gasly once, that will probably be the highlight of his short career then.
MacLeod (@macleod)
7th May 2025, 8:24
That was it then for Jack my advise for Jack to sue his manager….
John Dangerfield
7th May 2025, 9:08
Reading this comment gave me cancer…
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th May 2025, 7:55
Sir never ever say that word …….. you could beter explain yourself or are you an interested party of the cheater…
Roy Beedrill
8th May 2025, 1:29
The irony is that Doohan’s manager is Briatore. You couldn’t make it up!
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th May 2025, 7:52
That is why he should sue him bad managing.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
7th May 2025, 8:25
Briatore describing someones behaviour as ‘professional’ isn’t exactly high praise.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
7th May 2025, 8:38
“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.”
So this improvement in team’s car and performance had nothing to do with Oakes then? That seems to be their judgement.
PacificPR (@streydt)
7th May 2025, 8:39
If I were a sponsor of Alpine I would seriously reconsider if I wanted to be associated with a team that treats its drivers and mangers in such ruthless and unprofessional manner.
SteveP
8th May 2025, 6:59
Well, yeah, much better to look at sponsoring Red Bull A or Red Bull B…
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th May 2025, 7:57
He means cheating on track (like forcing an driver to crash so his teammate could win) which Red Bull never did.
OOliver
7th May 2025, 8:54
The Briatore way. I’m even surprised he was allowed 6 races this season.s
harsha vardhan
7th May 2025, 8:54
Five rounds eh, what’s the meaning of a round in Alpine team ??
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th May 2025, 7:58
Don’t expect to see Jack back that meaning.
MichaelN
7th May 2025, 8:57
Makes sense, Colapinto showed promise last year. Doohan has shown very little to get excited about. It’s a tough sport, but I’d rather see the teams do this than endlessly hope for improvement that never comes.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th May 2025, 9:13
Indeed, like red bull with perez.
BenjaminS (@benihana)
7th May 2025, 10:55
This decision and the one with Oakes has nothing to do with performance. This is all about money and how much they can get from these immediate changes.
Colin Spencer (@colin999)
7th May 2025, 8:57
Sounds like Oakes didn’t agree with Briatore over replacing Doohan with Colapinto and lost the battle an so left.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2025, 9:24
That’s pretty much how I immediately assumed the scenario to be.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
7th May 2025, 12:11
Is Jack such a talent that it justifies a team principal quitting over him? The driver lineup is probably just one factor.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
7th May 2025, 17:29
@markwebber Jack isn’t, but Flavio’s general lack of judgement over the last half-season likely does justify a team principal quitting.
Craig
7th May 2025, 18:36
Doohan’s better then people give him credit for, you just have to see some of his F2 wins to see how good he can be.
Seppo (@helava)
7th May 2025, 19:23
It’s not about whether Jack’s a talent or not, it’s about whether Oliver Oakes has a level of authority that he was professed to have or not. Or about being put in a situation where you have to do something that runs counter to your ethics & how you want to treat people.
Briatore has no ethics. Oakes seemed to be a decent guy, and I think Alpine brought him in to give a level of credibility that Briatore cannot ever deserve. Oakes was likely asked to cover for some of Briatore’s BS and wouldn’t do it.
polweiss
7th May 2025, 14:37
I agree, why not stay for a couple of races, help the new driver and see what happens? what’s so urgent? this Oak came from nowere to a place where many engineers whant to be for life, easy comes easy goes
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th May 2025, 8:14
@colin999 I can’t say for 100% but a little bet like 99,99% as the cheater forces him to do this so what for level of authority that he was professed to have?
(even if he agrees with the action)
He said Jack was driving in Imola and now Jack is out.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th May 2025, 9:07
I think it’s not just to evaluate drivers, but to also make sure the money they are pouring reaches destination.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th May 2025, 9:13
This rotation thing is a surprise, leaves the door open for doohan or someone else if colapinto disappoints (remember that drivers can do well at a team and bad at another, we have plenty of examples), I thought it’d be a simple long term replacement.
baasbas
7th May 2025, 9:17
Ah yes, let’s rotate them so we make sure the one thing inexperienced young drivers need, they won’t get – time to gain experience.
Or, a different explanation: Doohan is replaced and they’re not going to rotate..
Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2025, 9:26
Even though, for the time being, Colapinto is only guaranteed for an interim period, I also assume his role will eventually turn into a full-time drive anyway, not that I even think he’s necessarily going to perform badly, combined with his strong marketability.
Patrick (@paeschli)
7th May 2025, 11:43
If you let 4 different drivers drive your B car you get 4 times the opportunity to collect a pay check from different sponsors.
My guess is for Mazepin to make a comeback after the next 5 rounds before finishing off the season with an experienced driver like Maldonado.
SteveR (@stever)
7th May 2025, 15:36
Except a team can only use four different drivers in a season.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
7th May 2025, 17:31
I have a horrible feeling that Doohan, Colapinto and Aron will all get this treatment before one of them finishes off the season (or Driver #5 if Flavio has fallen for someone else and can find an excuse to shoehorn them and their sponsors into the line-up).
SteveP
8th May 2025, 7:08
Only 4 drivers per team per season, so driver #5 would require some dodgy person in high station at the FIA to change the rules.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2025, 9:24
I didn’t expect this move to become official so soon after Oakes’ departure announcement.
I’m even more surprised that Doohan hasn’t (yet) been outright sacked, with Colapinto becoming a permanent replacement.
Instead, they effectively swap roles with Colapinto definitively guaranteed only for the upcoming five rounds.
Oh well, Colapinto’s role will most likely turn into full-time eventually anyway, given his sponsors & marketability, not that I even think he’ll perform badly over this initial interim stint.
baasbas
7th May 2025, 9:39
@jerejj
I think that it might have to do with what is in his contract and we don’t know those details. It might be the best (cheapest?) option to keep him around for a bit. But he will be down, deflated and indeed will not be back in the car.. despite those words about rotating.
When RBR does this, at least the axed driver can still be in a car .. and that is vital for their development. To have a chance to overcome this demotion. Doohan won’t have that chance and will not recover. And no other team is going to pick him up either. This is (F1-)career ending I’m afraid.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2025, 13:04
baasbas
I hadn’t thought about the possible contractual situation aspect, but the reality otherwise is indeed as you put it.
The word ‘rotate’ is simply a cover-up for the time being, & over time, he’ll end up getting ousted or leaving altogether, & the likelihood of any other team offering him another chance is very low, even Cadillac.
Yes, Red Bull drivers are in a more favorable position if they get dropped from the main team, albeit losing a drive when already in the B-team is another matter like with De Vries, Ricciardo, & a few others in the more distant past, while Checo with a different status was of course let go altogether.
Riker (@corsair)
7th May 2025, 11:00
Alpine are a joke of a team.
So glad Piastri left that mess.
Patrick (@paeschli)
7th May 2025, 11:50
Piastri winning the championship this year would make Alpine’s fumble of his contract (the poor lads are at Alpine just didn’t have the ‘resources’ to send either Alonso or Piastri a contract in time…) look even worse in retrospect, something that seemed impossible when the details of that debacle were made public.
Mr Squiggle
7th May 2025, 11:15
I’m not entirely sure how to read this.
If Oaks quit over this, it implies he thinks Jack would be the better driver. i also recall hearing on Sky F1 during the Miami GP that Gasly ended up using some of Jack’s set up. Jack outqualified Pierre. He is not without talent.
A five race program for Colapinto is not a very ringing endorsement either. Perhaps there are some doubts about him, (he seemed to crash alot last year)..or perhaps the South american money is only enough for 5 races.
Either way, this isn’t quite the ‘Sack Jack + replace with Franco’ scenario that was the rumour before today
Craig
7th May 2025, 11:22
I certainly wouldn’t call this a “win-win” for Alpine and it will only cause instability for the foreseeable.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
7th May 2025, 12:30
It’s possible that Oli Oakes left simply out of a ‘whats my role?’ scenario. Is Flavio an ‘advisor’ or ‘calling the shots’? If it’s the latter then it makes sense to get out with some reputation remaining. I’m sure plenty of others who’ve sat in that Enstone seat in the last 10 years wished they’d jumped ship earlier.
Much like how Newey left Williams, it wasn’t the signing of Frentzen he objected to, it was how he wasn’t consulted. I doubt Oakes left because he wanted to fall on a sword for Doohan, more that this is Flavio’s show now, so whats the point of Oakes being there?
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
7th May 2025, 11:22
Let’s be real. There won’t be any rotation, that’s just words to make themselves feel better.
I don’t know who I feel for more. Jack for getting booted, or Franco for being handed the poison chalice of a team and car that just isn’t in the same competition as the rest.
Alpine will sell up, they’re just waiting for someone to offer that mythical billion dollars.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th May 2025, 13:07
Spot-on regarding everything.
The word ‘rotation’ is indeed only used to make themselves feel better or effectively as a cover-up, etc., & perhaps Luca De Meo would finally be willing to sell the team.
Bosco Moroz
7th May 2025, 16:42
This could also backfire, but by the end of Colopinto’s run at Williams, he had cost the team nearly as much as Logan with some mighty massive crashes. He definitely showed some great pace, which is why I am sure they hired him.
I would bet the 5 race deal is to see if his speed can be harnessed and not cost the team cost cap money with silly crashes. If memory serves, he crashed hard twice in one day in Brazil, then Vegas was a really big one. By the end of his run, I honestly didn’t expect him back, at least not so quickly.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
7th May 2025, 11:35
As others have said, it seems pretty obvious that this simply because Jacks contract is too tight/expensive for Briatore to simply kick him out.
Jack has done OK but I expect Franco to do better to be honest.
Sad for Jack as he seems a capable driver and a good guy.
Jack
7th May 2025, 12:34
Was pretty much an open secret last year that Flav and Co wanted Franco and not Jack.
I’m assuming there was the wriggle room with a performance clause to bench Jack at this point and they’ve used it.
Ollie obviously didn’t agree with it so stepped aside.
Flav doing what he was employed to do so let’s see how it pans out
baasbas
7th May 2025, 13:02
An interesting question would be:
Who here is eating their words for slagging off Helmut Marko? Who’d have thunk this grumpy old man with 138 (surely) years of experience would get that assessment correct instead of a whole thread filled with internet keyboard wisdom? Actually, in hindsight Marko was even conservative with his prediction that he would not see the season out…
<:^)
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
7th May 2025, 17:37
A reasonable team boss – or even one who cared about the team’s performance – would have given Doohan the season. Either Helmut identified Flavio as a poor team boss or he inadvertently identified himself as a poor team advisor.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th May 2025, 23:01
If a driver is not performing, there’s little to lose replacing him with someone with potential, nowadays seasons are too long to give underperforming drivers a full one.
polweiss
7th May 2025, 14:41
This plan to have 5 races to evaluate each driver was agreed per contract even before the season started. Dohan made his part , now it’s Franco’s opportunity , the remaining races yet to be decided
Free_B
7th May 2025, 15:13
Wait a sec, I like Franko: he seems like a good guy (talks a lot) and a tough racer, but have we forgotten how many times he crashed the Williams last year?!! In fariness so has every other Williams drivers, but I’m really unclear why Doohan who has crashed a few times is a lost cause, but Colapinto, who crashed a few times is the next Verstappen?!
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
7th May 2025, 18:02
You can probably coach an inconsistent, high-performing driver to not to crash more easily than coaching a consistent, low-performing driver to go faster.
Given that he scored points last year for Williams probably has convinced people that he is the former.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th May 2025, 22:59
Yes, the pace is what matters, and colapinto looked like a star his first few races.
AndrewT (@andrewt)
7th May 2025, 17:34
Different situation, but Red Bull 2005 comes to my mind with wishing to rotate drivers. 4 races for Klien, then 4 races for Liuzzi, then 4 races for Klien, then… all the remaining races for Klien. Similarily, I kind of cannot really expect Doohan to be rotated back, despite the communication.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
7th May 2025, 18:02
@andrewt I get the feeling Paul Aron, the other Alpine reserve, will get a go as well. Then a decision will need to be made, since 15 rounds isn’t a season.
AndrewT (@andrewt)
7th May 2025, 19:06
I guess you’re right about that, he is an option too.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
7th May 2025, 22:51
Liuzzi gave an interview to this site a couple of years ago, where he pointed out that it was the drivers themselves who asked Red Bull to end the driver rotation experiment. In these days of such limited testing it’s probably even less likely to be effective than it was back then.
AndrewT (@andrewt)
8th May 2025, 20:28
I wasn’t aware of that, thank for pointing it out.
BenjaminS (@benihana)
7th May 2025, 17:38
This is not a decision that affects just Alpine and it’s folks, this affects F1 as a whole. The fact that these cars have gotten so damn difficult to drive and that F2 and F3 are such different beasts the lack of testing for young drivers is hampering their preparation. There has to be better than FP1 4 times a year in an F1 car to better bet these young drivers a chance to show the teams how good their are. I know many folks will just dismiss guys like DeVries, Seargent or Doohan as failed drivers F1 drivers, but what if F1 missed building up the next F1 champion without actually giving him a chance. These new 2022 and onwards cars are very difficult to drive and I have seen very few rookies take to them like a duck to water, heck even regular stars are finding them hard. Should we really be putting such pressure on young guys coming to F1 at a time when F1 itself is in such chaotic times and change. Share I say I barely liked the Miami track but yet the action was good, not great, that I can see why it is on the calendar, all to my sadness?
Alesici
8th May 2025, 6:16
This was the team that consistently said they had a 5 year plan (that consistently started today….).
Maybe with all the staff turnover, the detailed wording of that plan has been lost to the mists of time, and they now think that their plan was always called a 5 race plan.
An Sionnach
8th May 2025, 11:03
Doohan isn’t great, but has shown a little promise. I don’t see why they shouldn’t keep rotating them all season until one shows that he is clearly better. If they both somehow outshine Gasly, they could even keep both and give him the boot.
Sergey Martyn
8th May 2025, 14:09
So what will happen after five rounds if Collapinto doesn’t deliver?