Formula One teams switching their drivers mid-season has in modern times become something of a regularly occurrence. In 2023, Daniel Ricciardo replaced the over hyped Nyck de Vries in the Red Bull junior team, only to suffer an injury in Zandvoort which then saw him replaced by Liam Lawson for five race weekends.
The following season Ricciardo was offered the AlphaTauri seat full time, only to find himself replaced by Lawson again following the Singapore Grand Prix for failing to live up to expectations. Similarly Williams decided they’d had enough of the hapless Logan Sargent and replaced him for last year’s Italian Grand Prix with the Argentinian rookie, Franco Colapinto.
Of course there was no place on the grid this year for the promising South America driver as Williams decided that Sergeant’s full time replacement would be Carlos Sainz, who signed a long term contract with the Grove based outfit. Colapinto with his huge financial backing was shuffled over to Alpine as a reserve driver, although it was generally considered he would soon replace the team’s rookie driver for this season, Jack Doohan.
Mid-season F1 driver changes grow further
Doohan was Alpines reserve driver and was promised the drive for 2025 whilst Flavio Briatore was finding his feet as the recently appointed Renault ‘consultant’. Despite the Australian being part of Briatore’s driver management programme, the ruthless Italian decided that after the sixth round of the season in Miami, enough was enough.
Whilst Franco dazzled the F1 paddock with his remarkable drives for Williams last year, he has failed to deliver anything like that form for Alpine in the five rounds in which he has competed thus far. In qualifying the Argentinian has averaged P16 so far, almost five places lower than his team mate Pierre Gasly. In the Grand Prix his best finish has been P13 although he has finished ahead of his team mate on two of the five outings they have had so far.
Meanwhile Cadillac appear to being overly cautious in announcing their drivers for the new eleventh team on the grid for 2026. Valtteri Bottas is one of the favourites to join the new F1 outfit and with his ten Grand Prix victories, only Hamilton, Verstappen and Alonso who are currently racing, have a better record than the Finnish driver. Valtteri made a mischievous social media post in the run up to the Austrian GP where he was depicted as ‘happening upon’ a Cadillac road car, which when opening the drivers door he commented: “Nice seat.”
Yet across the weekend it emerged, that Toto Wolff having met with Flavio Briatore had sanctioned a move for Bottas from his role as Mercedes reserve driver to Alpine to replace Franco Colapinto. Briatore is becoming increasingly vocal in his disappointment over how the Argentinian is performing. “Clearly the car was good enough for Q3, but we are still lacking having two cars up where they should be,” said Briatore in Alpine’s press release last Saturday.
Alpine boss irritated with Colapinto
“Franco was through Q1 but too far away to reach Q3, which we need to improve if we are to put ourselves in a more competitive position with both cars.” With Alpine ditching its long standing Renault F1 power unit in 2026 to become a Mercedes customer in a bid to improve results, Bottas moving to the French owned outfit would be a good synergy for the project moving forward.
Colapinto had a scruffy race in Austria having been hit by Yuki Tsunoda he then returned the compliment to championship leader Oscar Piastri. As the McLaren driver was passing back markers, Franco ran him fully onto the grass on the exit of turn 3, something Piastri was not enamoured with. “Alpine still managed to find a way to fuck me over all these years later,” he reported on team radio after the incident.
Acting team boss Briatore was also not amused with his driver following the chequered flag. “Frankly, this level of performance is increasingly concerning,” he said. “While yesterday the car was quick and should have been well inside Q3 with two cars, Sundays are a very different story for us and it is important we understand why this is, especially if we want to turn this season around from this difficult position.”
Gasly had run as high as P6 during the race, although the team’s strategy saw him fall to 13th place as he crossed the line. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was asked for his thoughts over the Bottas to Alpine potential move in the paddock, and whilst he ensured it was clear he was not the source of the revelation, he didn’t deny Bottas replacing Colapinto was on the cards.
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Wolff admits Bottas/Briatore contact
An Alpine team member told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that Briatore was frustrated because “Colapinto is losing too much time to (Pierre) Gasly.” When questioned about talks between his reserve driver and Briatore, the Mercedes boss revealed they have a “coffee house friendship.”
However, when pressed on the Bottas to Alpine possibilities, Wolff told motorsport-total.com: “Nice theory – But it didn’t come from me.” The news that Valtteri could replace Franco Colapinto was received with mixed views on social media. Ex-Renault racer, Nelson Piquet jnr, was incensed that Alpine were considering ditching a talented young rookie for a 35 year old ‘steady away’ driver.
“Choose a young talent, like (Felipe) Drugovich, several from Indy, Paul Aron, Alex Dunne – or choose a mediocre driver who’s been out for a while?” he posted on social media, adding: “FFS, the old guy running that team is worse than I thought.”
Bottas says deal done in July
Bottas was asked in Austria when the deadline over his racing future would be reached. “These things should be finished here during July,” he told Finnish publication Ilta Sanomat. “July starts next week, so it will be an interesting month ahead.”
Were Alpine to offer Bottas, France Colapinto’s drive in the weekends ahead, this would surely preclude him from being considered for 2026 by Cadillac. Even Alpine’s shocking recent record of results would be a safer bet than a brand new team starting with radical new card design regulations.
Further, it may be Alpine’s deliberations over recruiting Bottas, is the spanner in the works preventing Cadillac from announcing their driver lineup for 2026.
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F1 rule change favours Red Bull
FIA reset F1 aerodynamic handicap allowances to favour Red Bull – Its time to give Ferrari a break from the perpetual questions over their team boss’s job before the the paddock whispers fire up again at the next round of Formula One this Friday in Austria. As the teams approach the end of June, the second period of 2025’s FIA aerodynamic rationing of testing (ATR) will begin anew at the start of next month.
The ATR was first introduced in 2021 and restricts aerodynamic testing using a sliding scale based on constructors’ championship position. This is to act as a gentle form of handicapping, the idea being that the less competitive a team is, the more aerodynamic testing it can do in order to improve.
The pecking order was resetter the first time on January 1st this season, as Red Bull fell from first to third place for the first time since 2022. The Milton Keynes squad are now in fourth place behind McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari and so will receive an incremental allowance for both wind tunnel runs and CFD design time. … READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
