formula evie

Doohan is out, Colapinto is in, and Briatore is back.

In potentially the least shocking news possible, BWT Alpine F1 Team has announced that Franco Colapinto will be replacing Jack Doohan.

I think everybody saw this coming from a mile away- Doohan was already on a ridiculously short 6 race contract, and has seemed to be on borrowed time since the French team secured Colapinto as a reserve driver when Doohan was already locked in. But what surprised me is that Franco is also on a ridiculously short contract, this time just 5 races.

Where is the room for the ‘growth and development around the team’ that Flavio Briatore is apparently excited for, as he said in this Instagram caption? Where is the time for Franco to ‘show what he is capable of’? 5 races is barely enough time to adjust to the car, nevermind show your full potential in it. I mean look at Lewis Hamilton- he’s a 7 time world champion and is still adjusting to the ways of Ferrari after the first 6 races. Admittedly, there is maybe a lot more to get used to at Ferrari than at Alpine, for example being put on intermediate tyres instead of full wets in an exploration lap in the rain or having to deal with the Ferrari pit wall whilst driving around the Miami International Autodrome.

Its not like Alpine have had a stellar start to the season either, currently sitting 9th in the Constructor’s Championship with 3 DNFs and a disqualification under their belt meaning that they have only had both cars finishing the race and being classified 2 out of 6 tries so far. If it was Redbull pulling this driver rotation business, I wouldn’t bat an eye because it would be pretty in-character for them, but why would a team in the midfield be so set on instability?

Well, it seems like they could be continuing this all season long to somewhat assess the second-driver candidates for the 2026 season. With the big regulation changes coming next year, 2025 is acting as a sort of buffer-year for many teams this season as they place their focus and resources on developing their 2026 car, but nobody else seems to using it as driver testing. After Franco’s 5 races, might we see the other reserve drivers Paul Aron and Ryo Hirakawa get their 1/4 of a season? To be honest, I think that’s a more logical and less cruel conclusion to reach than the alternatives.

I feel a lot of sympathy towards Jack; I’m always sad when a driver loses their seat no matter how much I liked or didn’t like them (and I do like Jack a lot), because I can’t imagine the feeling of working your whole life for something, finally achieving the dream, just to lose it again. Maybe I’m just a particularly emotional person, but that’s the sort of thing I would literally never get over.

However … I really like Franco Colapinto. I will be very, very pleased to see him drive in Monaco and if, in the extremely unlikely event that I am delusionally manifesting for myself, I end up in the paddock you might just find me trying to act nonchalant and cool outside the Alpine motorhome. Don’t judge me. But all jokes aside, I really do think he’s a good driver and I’m happy he has another chance to prove it, regardless of how short that chance may be.

I mentioned Flavio Briatore before- a controversial figure in F1 history to say the least. After Crashgate in 2008 when Nelson Piquet Jr was asked by his team to crash on purpose to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the Singapore GP, Briatore (the team’s managing director) was given a lifetime ban from Formula 1 that was later overturned, though this wasn’t his only scandal in F1 with other allegations of cheating. He was also convicted on multiple counts of fraud and recieved two prison sentences in Italy in the 1980s, but never served them as he lived as a fugitive on the Virgin Islands, and has had a decent amount of controversy in his personal life too. Not getting into that, but feel free to do your own research. And now, following the unexpected resignation of Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes, Flavio is back in the driver’s seat so to speak as he will be ‘covering duties previously performed by Oliver Oakes’ according to the team’s official statement.

A following statement from the team apparently denies speculation that Oakes’ resignation came after a disagreement about the driver changes.

With all of this going on, I’m left with just one question: what on earth is going on at Alpine?