Alpine F1 Team's Double Chaos - Franco Colapinto Replaces Jack Doohan, And Team Principal Oliver Oakes Quits

The second driver change of the 2025 Formula 1 season has been confirmed in the aftermath of the Miami GP 2025 - and it is one that many saw coming from a mile away. 

The Alpine F1 team have replaced Jack Doohan, who only got the seat at the start of the season, with Franco Colapinto, who they signed from Williams at the start of the year. 

It was a move that many saw coming - but the one many did not foresee was the sudden resignation of team principal Oliver Oakes. 

Yet the move only serves to reinforce the notion that Alpine are now one of the more chaotic teams in the sport, even as their performances on track remain by and large the same. 

The Doohan-Colapinto Dilemma That Was Destined For Chaos

When Colapinto, who impressed for Williams as a stand-in during the second half of the 2024 season, was snapped up by Alpine, many immediately felt Doohan's seat was in danger. 

After all, why would a driver leave one reserve drive for another unless he knew that he was guaranteed to get a seat at some point in time? 

Doohan, to his credit, put up a brave face in the media but his patience wore thin as speculation mounted over Colapinto eventually getting the seat. 

The move was complicated by money, as Colapinto was set to bring significant sponsorship money from South America. 

Therefore, the young Argentinian won out due to reasons that had as much to do with money as it did his talent and upside. 

But, as hindsight proved, there was only ever going to be one way this move played out - with Doohan eventually losing his seat to Colapinto. 

The Oliver Oakes Drama

To make matters even more complicated was the resignation of team principal Oakes before the move was confirmed. 

Oakes has long been seen as a puppet of executive advisor Flavio Briatore, with the Italian taking up temporary team principal duties now. 

There are rumours that Oakes was against the demotion of Doohan - which is what led to his departure in the end. 

It also doesn't bode well for Alpine that they have placed so much stock in Briatore - a multi-time world championship winner as team principal with Renault in the past but also a person banned for race-fixing after the infamous ‘Crashgate’ scandal of 2008. 

Yet it is fitting that Alpine continue to lurch from one chaotic decision to another, given their recent reputation. 

What this means for the future of the race team remains unclear but it seems unlikely that their hopes of contenting for race wins and world championships will have been helped by all this drama.