How Franco Colapinto Can Extend Alpine Stint Beyond The Promised Five Races - And What He Must Learn From Jack Doohan

The circumstances surrounding Franco Colapinto's promotion to a race seat in the Alpine F1 team were far from ideal - even if anyone with a basic knowledge of how Formula 1 works could see it coming for a long time. 

Colapinto replacing Jack Doohan, who was himself promoted to a race seat in the 2025 season, was all but a given since the team worked hard to prise him away from his junior team Williams. 

That sort of an agreement was never going to be just for a reserve driver role, as that was the role he would have fulfilled at Williams anyway had he chosen to stay behind. 

Colapinto's debut in the second half of the season showed both flashes of brilliance and rawness - the latter of which will be addressed later in this article. But his raw talent and signficant financial backing from Argentine and South American companies meant he was always going to race for Alpine eventually. 

But, as things stand, he has only been given the seat for the next 5 races, starting from the Emilia Romagna GP 2025. So what must he do to avoid being axed like his predecessor Doohan? 

Avoid Expensive Crashes

One of the biggest issues in Doohan's short stint with the team was that he could never piece together a complete weekend despite showing flashes of pace. And one of the main reasons for his inconsistency were his early crashes.

The worse of those came at the Japanese GP weekend, where he suffered a heavy shunt during practice due to a DRS error. 

Crashes are always incovenient both from a mechanical and cost perspective - the latter of which holds even more weight in the cost cap era. 

And while Colapinto was impressive in his his stand-in appearances for Williams, he too ended up suffering one too many crashes towards the latter parts of the season. 

Doohan's frequent crashes were one of the key reasons he was eventually dropped - Colapinto needs to ensure he doesn't make the same mistake. 

Be in The Fight For Points

But results are the biggest currency in F1 - and Doohan's inability to be among the points was the main reason that his stay in the seat was so short-lived. 

It is already known that Colapinto can step into a tricky car and be in and among the points. That is exactly what he did during his brief stint at Williams. 

But that form will need to be replicated, even though the circumstances around both seasons could not have been more different. 

In 2024, the Williams was a car that could regularly compete for points. This season, the midfield is more crowded than ever and Alpine have again made a slow start. 

Even Pierre Gasly, the team's undisputed leader, has not always been in and around the points this year as the Alpine has been a tricky car to drive. 

But if Colapinto can stay close to the Frenchman, he will put himself in a good position to lock the seat down for longer.