Storm clouds over the Alps: Jack Doohan axed as Franco Colapinto steps in for Imola – A turbulent start to the 2025 Formula One season has culminated in a swift and dramatic change at the Alpine garage. According to multiple sources, including Germany’s often reliable RTL TV network, the French team are preparing to bench Jack Doohan ahead of the upcoming Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, with Franco Colapinto reportedly set to take the second seat.

While official confirmation is yet to come, insiders suggest that the decision has already been made following another disappointing outing for Doohan in Miami. The Australian’s early crash on the opening lap appears to have been the final straw for Flavio Briatore’s Alpine bosses.

This sudden driver change – still unofficial but widely expected – marks one of the most abrupt mid-season changes in recent memory, and signals the end of a rapidly deteriorating relationship between Doohan and the Alpine Formula One project.

Flavio Briatore’s cryptic comments in Miami have only added fuel to the fire. When asked about Colapinto’s possible debut at Imola, the Italian avoided a clear denial and simply repeated: “He’s our reserve. Reserve, reserve, reserve”. Behind the scenes, however, preparations for the swap had already begun.

 

A season gone wrong for Doohan

Jack Doohan’s rookie season has been nothing short of disastrous. After years of anticipation, development miles and the promise of the junior formula, the 22-year-old finally landed a seat at Alpine, replacing Esteban Ocon as part of the team’s 2025 driver overhaul. Many in the paddock had hoped that Doohan, the son of five-time MotoGP champion Mick Doohan, would breathe new life into a struggling outfit.

Instead, his tenure has been plagued by inconsistency, poor results and costly mistakes.

In the first six races of the season Doohan failed to score a single point. He only managed to take the chequered flag in four of those outings, finishing no higher than 13th. Two high-profile crashes in Melbourne and Miami left the car in tatters and the team desperate. In Japan, he crashed in practice after forgetting to manually close his DRS flap – a basic operational error in the world of modern F1.

While Alpine officials have remained tight-lipped in public, sources now confirm that the internal mood has changed drastically since the Miami Grand Prix. Doohan’s crash on the first lap of the race – his second retirement of the season – was particularly damaging as it came on a weekend when Alpine were introducing new upgrades and hoping for progress on a track better suited to their car.

The momentum for change had been building for weeks, and in Florida the team’s patience finally broke.

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Colapinto’s shadow looms large

Adding further intrigue to the situation is the presence of Franco Colapinto, the 21-year-old Argentinian talent who joined Alpine’s driver programme last year. Colapinto was promoted to the role of test and reserve driver for the 2025 season, but behind the scenes his profile has been steadily rising.

He has reportedly already taken part in several private test sessions – described as “secret” but hardly kept under wraps – where insiders claim he has impressed the technical staff with his speed, consistency and feedback.

Felix Görner, a veteran RTL reporter, confirmed that Colapinto had been “convincing” in these outings and said that the internal pressure to give him a chance was growing, especially as Doohan continued to underperform.

Rumours of a Colapinto race debut intensified in the run-up to the Miami weekend, when one of his main sponsors seemed to let the cat out of the bag. In an interview the sponsor stated that Colapinto would be “racing at Imola”, before hastily retracting the statement and chalking it up to a misunderstanding. But many observers were already convinced that the announcement was a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’.

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Alpine’s internal politics and performance anxiety

Alpine has been in a state of flux for more than a year. After a disappointing 2024 campaign in which the team dropped to the lower mid-table, major changes were made in the off-season. The arrival of Flavio Briatore as executive advisor signalled a more aggressive, and at times ruthless, approach to management. Alpine’s technical management was restructured, the car philosophy revised and the driver line-up reset.

The hiring of Doohan, who had spent several years embedded in the Alpine Academy, was seen as a vote of confidence in the programme’s development pipeline. But now, with results lagging and pressure mounting from Renault Group management, the team’s leadership is reverting to a more results-oriented stance.

Insiders say Briatore has zero tolerance for underperformance, and while Colapinto is also a rookie, his calm demeanour and sharp learning curve may give Alpine more hope of salvaging something from an already difficult season.

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Symbolic changing of the guard

If Colapinto does indeed line up on the grid at Imola, the symbolic significance of the move will not be lost on observers. It would be the second time in less than a year that an Argentinian driver has taken a seat on the F1 grid, following Colapinto’s brief Friday appearances in 2024. But this would be the Buenos Aires-born driver’s first full Grand Prix start – and perhaps the first of many if he impresses quickly.

For Doohan, the implications are stark. While his F1 dream is not necessarily over, the stigma of being dropped mid-season is difficult to shake off in this fiercely competitive sport. His relationship with Alpine may be irreparably damaged, and without a clear backup plan or second chance on the horizon, he may be forced back into a reserve or simulator role – if that.

The silence from Alpine’s official channels only adds to the drama. Keeping the announcement off the record gives the team maximum flexibility, but it also allows speculation to grow – and the media storm to intensify.

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What comes next?

All eyes are now on the weekend of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix on 16-18 May, where the situation will come to a head one way or another. With Colapinto in the car, Alpine’s decision will be confirmed or challenged in real time on the track.

The stakes are enormous. Alpine currently sits at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, having scored only a handful of points thanks largely to the efforts of Pierre Gasly. The team is in desperate need of stability and upward momentum, two qualities that Doohan has unfortunately been unable to provide.

As for Colapinto, the pressure will be immense. To make a Grand Prix debut in the cauldron of Formula One, especially in these circumstances, is no mean feat. But with the right support, Alpine are hoping that the young Argentinian can inject energy and perhaps even results into a campaign that has been going nowhere.

Whether this bold driver change will prove to be a turning point, or just another misstep, remains to be seen. For now, however, it appears that Alpine is staking its future not on patience, but on a swift, surgical and perhaps overdue change of driver.

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