{"id":35138,"date":"2025-08-01T16:33:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formula1news.co.uk\/?p=35138"},"modified":"2025-08-01T16:33:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:33:35","slug":"its-time-for-alpine-to-do-a-180-on-jack-doohan-and-franco-colapinto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formula1news.co.uk\/its-time-for-alpine-to-do-a-180-on-jack-doohan-and-franco-colapinto\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time for Alpine to do a 180\u00a0on Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Decisions on personnel in Formula One can make or break a team\u2019s season and BWT Alpine\u2019s decision to drop rookie Australian driver Jack Doohan after just six races in 2025 is proving to be yet another misguided one from the French team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still smarting from missing out on another promising Australian racer in Oscar Piastri, who now leads the championship driving for McLaren, 2025 looked like a year when Alpine would support the talented and loyal Doohan, who has been with the team for years, alongside its main driver, Pierre Gasly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was promise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, instead of putting their arms around the driver, who starred in F3 and F2 cars in previous seasons, pressure came from the very start as newly appointed team advisor, now Defacto team principal Flavio Briatore, signed Argentine Franco Colapinto after he himself impressed in the Williams car in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fanfare surrounding this signing, a reserve driver, announced on social media was equal to the publicity Doohan received as the #2 driver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eyebrows were immediately raised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As many observers in F1 put it, this placed unnecessary pressure on a rookie driver in Doohan to deliver from the start. Yet after just six races, Doohan was unceremoniously dumped with Colapinto replacing him for what was said at the time would be a handful of races for Colapinto. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colapinto now has seven under his seatbelt in 2025 (will be eight after Hungaroring), failing to deliver a single point for his team in that period. Although his record of 0 points is equal\u00a0to Doohan\u2019s this season, Colapinto has not only had more races to prove that he is an upgrade, he also had the advantage of experiencing nine F1 races in 2024, plus more time in the test car before replacing Doohan.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe (Colapinto) is undoubtedly in an improved car to what Doohan raced, as the team is getting to grips with it as the season goes on,\u201d <\/em>said a Formula 1 mechanic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know that Jack also had to put up with a change of engineers after just his second race. In Japan, in only his third race of the season, he had a new mechanic who had never race engineered in F1 before!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey should back Jack. He was just getting better and better as time went on, which makes another mockery of Alpine to demote him as he\u2019s proven that he has always come good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whilst many opinions in F1 are subjective, the objective data points to Doohan as the quicker and more balanced driver through their years in F2 and F3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His record of multiple podium finishes in both F3 and subsequently in F2, including the imperative feature wins in F2, with three, made him the king of those races. For context, Colapinto won none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on championship finishes, total race wins, and importantly feature race wins (which are the legitimate ones, not the reverse-grid lottery wins), how much they improved year-on-year and how they did in their last F2 season, it\u2019s Doohan who is ahead of Colapinto. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Driver<\/strong><\/td>
Best F3 Finish<\/strong><\/td>
F3 Wins (Feature)<\/strong><\/td>
Best F2 Finish<\/strong><\/td>
F2 Wins (Feature)<\/strong><\/td>
Observations<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Jack Doohan<\/strong><\/td>
2nd (2021)<\/strong><\/td>
4 (3 feature)<\/strong><\/td>
3rd (2023)<\/strong><\/td>
6 (4 feature)<\/strong><\/td>
Consistent top-tier progression before entering F1<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Franco Colapinto<\/strong><\/td>
4th(2022)<\/strong><\/td>
4 (0 feature)<\/strong><\/td>
9th (2024)<\/strong><\/td>
1 (0 feature)<\/strong><\/td>
No feature wins, surprising that he\u2019s been promoted to F1 <\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com\/docsz\/AD_4nXd-gyconlgq7TxCsoqUtV7CTGTC6q6b4kdUPc-9UM-yTy57M4nn431JFp9Cq97OJRw4Cin4lyeCiEf0Ik1YLsaWbzkniUrQlZNT157NlVnYDCV684eNysCBOElovbutkaP6m2XfgA?key=s7ldsZBuPbwtNks0A4vPEA\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n