After just six races, Jack Doohan has been replaced by reserve driver Franco Colapinto for the upcoming Emila Romagna race. The move has been in the works for a while after Doohan has underperformed at all six races.
Colapinto is the first reserve driver of four for Alpine. He previously raced last year as the first reserve driver for Williams and replaced Logan Sargeant midyear. Unlike his replacement of Sargeant last year, Alpine has only contracted Colapinto for five rounds opting instead to rotate their drivers rather than a full replacement. This is uncommon but not unheard of, and with a team such as Alpine going through many management changes, it is in alignment with what has been seen previously.
The rotating driver news was released just after Alpine’s current team principal Oliver Oakes resigned. Controversial figure and executive advisor to Alpine Flavio Briotore will take over the roles previously held by Oakes. This news is not unexpected due to Briotore’s past with Formula One team management but has led to speculation for possible misconduct after the last time Briotore served as team principal.
Flavio Briotore was part of the infamous “Crashgate” scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, leading him to have a lifetime ban from Formula One handed to him. During the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Briotore was the team principal at Renault racing with drivers Nelson Piquet Jr. and Fernando Alonso. According to Piquet Jr. he was told over team radio to crash on purpose to let his teammate Alonso win the race. Alonso did end up winning the race due to Piquet’s crash, and after the scandal was revealed, both Briotore and chief engineer Pat Symonds were given lifetime bans.
In 2024 Briotore was brought back to Formula One by the now renamed team Alpine, but due to his history, the decision was met with quite a lot of backlash.
Last year Briotore was seen meeting with Jack Doohan and offering the contract for Alpine’s second seat. This year, Alpine has the highest number of reserve drivers in preparation for driver swaps midway through the season.
It is still unknown whether Colapinto’s contract will be extended through the rest of the season, and it will all depend on how happy Alpine is with his results during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
