The Alpine Formula 1 team has had a difficult campaign in 2025, currently sitting at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship with only 20 points. After only six race weekends, frustration led to a mid-season shake-up, with Jack Doohan being replaced by Franco Colapinto. Colapinto had impressed in late 2024 while standing in for Williams. The Argentinian made an immediate impact, scoring points in Baku and Austin, and he even caught the attention of Red Bull as a potential replacement for Sergio Pérez.

However, Colapinto’s early momentum faded amid a series of costly crashes that turned potential into inconsistency. Despite financial backing from South American sponsors, his results have mirrored Doohan’s — slightly better in race finishes, though marginally weaker in qualifying. Desperate for direction, Alpine switched off its in-season development programme around the British Grand Prix, effectively conceding the remainder of the year. Since then, Pierre Gasly’s solitary point in Belgium has been the team’s only highlight, and both drivers have often found themselves near the back of the grid.

While public focus has drifted elsewhere, internal competition has intensified. Colapinto has quietly outperformed Gasly in recent races and qualifying sessions, keeping his hopes for 2026 alive. Yet, behind the scenes, another driver has been steadily making his own case, and his opportunity has now arrived.

Red Bull Verstappen team mate decision announced

 

Alpine announces a new change

Just days before the Mexican Grand Prix, the team stunned the paddock by revealing that reserve driver Paul Aron would be stepping into the A525 for the upcoming weekend. In a season already defined by upheaval, the team revealed that reserve driver Paul Aron will take the wheel of the A525 for the upcoming weekend. This decision reflects Alpine’s ongoing quest for new talent and long-term stability following months of disappointing results.

For Gasly, the news came as he prepared for what should have been a routine practice session. However, when the official statement was released on Tuesday evening, it confirmed that the team was turning to its young Estonian talent — a move intended as both an experiment and an audition.

 

 

Aron, aged 21, joined Alpine earlier this year, having spent four seasons in the Mercedes Junior Programme, where he developed a reputation for technical precision and maturity. His arrival marked a quiet shift in Alpine’s strategy, with a renewed focus on youth and long-term development rather than short-term fixes.

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Aron’s path to the spotlight

This weekend will not be Aron’s first experience of Formula 1 machinery. Earlier in the season, he was loaned to Sauber to complete young driver practice sessions at the British and Hungarian Grands Prix, thus fulfilling the FIA’s requirement for rookie outings. His calm and analytical approach impressed both teams, earning him further opportunities, including a Friday practice session at Monza where he took over from Colapinto.

Although he finished the session two seconds behind the overall pace, he trailed Gasly by just half a second and outperformed his teammate in the early stages. This performance reportedly caught the attention of Alpine’s engineers, who now view him as a genuine contender for a race seat in 2026.

Franco Colapinto’s quiet resurgence

 

Flavio Briatore’s influence

Alpine’s de facto team principal has been pivotal in reshaping the team’s direction since his return. During the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, he hinted at the growing competition within the squad, telling The Race, ‘It’s between Franco and Paul. Paul is a very nice guy and a very quick driver. I need to understand what is best for the team.”

This made it clear that Alpine’s 2026 decision would come down to its two young prospects, Colapinto and Aron, and that no external candidates were under consideration. “We see other drivers, but we don’t feel there’s anything special there,” Briatore said bluntly.

Colapinto, who defied team orders in Austin while battling with Gasly, has shown flashes of determination, yet he remains under scrutiny due to his mixed results and a recent clash with team management. While his defiance is reminiscent of great racers’ instincts, it has left Alpine’s leadership divided on whether he has the right temperament for a rebuilding project.

With Aron now stepping into the car for Mexico, the stakes could not be higher. His performance this weekend will not only determine Alpine’s short-term fortunes, but also who will partner Gasly in 2025. For a team eager to regain credibility and competitiveness, every lap in Mexico will be crucial.

Red Bull caught, McLaren furious: FIA intervenes after action against Norris during US GP

 

MORE F1 NEWS – McLaren admit they will ‘shoot themselves in the foot’ if necessary

Following the recent US Grand Prix, McLaren find themselves under pressure in the drivers’ title race from a resurgent Red Bull Racing and world champion Max Verstappen. Since late August, the Dutch driver has closed the gap on leader Oscar Piastri from 104 points to just 40 with five Grand Prix and two Sprints remaining.

McLaren state almost weekly that their so called ‘papaya rules’ will be enforced rigidly to the point that a move by Lando Norris in Singapore which the stewards treated as a racing incident went to the Woking tribunal of big wigs. The result, Norris has been penalised with unspecified “consequences” for the remainder of the season.

Now theta are in a bit of a bind given in the Sprint in Austin,  their other driver cause mayhem at the start taking out three cars including himself and team mate Lando Norris. Again the stewards treated the matter as a racing incident but Piastri will surely now have to face the same panel of McLaren judges to learn his fate for the remainder of the season.

 

Verstappen mocks McLaren management

Zak Brown and Andrea Stella have been ridiculed in the media for their micro management of their drivers while claiming they “are free to race.” On hearing of Norris fate for merely doing what a racing driver should do, Max Verstappen mocked the McLaren management. “They kind of created this themselves by trying so hard to make everything equal,” he observed.

Max went on to illustrate that in F1 and in life all is not fair and equal as Norris experienced in Zandvoort when his Mercedes gave up the ghost due to a faulty hose fitted by the McLaren mechanics. Dodgy pitstops are also just part of racing, although McLaren insisted Piastri give a place back to his team mate in Monza due to five second pitstop mistake the British driver suffered during his final stop of the race.

Attempting to legislate equality, Vertsappen implied, is about as effective as putting an umbrella over a hurricane. The Dutchman even outlined his own simple solution to McLaren’s balancing act…READ MORE ON THIS STORY