Is Franco Colapinto better than Jack Doohan? Performances explained as Alpine confirms driver swap

It’s a move that hasn’t come as much of a surprise to F1 fans - regardless of how Doohan performed, the hiring of Colapinto as a reserve driver indicated immediate red flags for the Australian racer. Colapinto, 21, will now be given his chance alongside Pierre Gasly until at least the end of the Austrian Grand Prix on June 29 with Doohan, 22, demoted to reserve driver.

Alpine say they will then assess their options ahead of the British Grand Prix a week later. Colapinto was brought in by Williams as a substitute for the latter stage of last season, replacing the underperforming Logan Sargeant.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that British team principal Oliver Oakes had resigned as team principal after just nine months in the role, with executive director Flavio Briatore assuming his responsibilities.

Briatore said: “Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races. With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up.

“We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year.

“We continue to support Jack at the team, as he has acted in a very professional manner in his role as a race driver so far this season. The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.”

Doohan’s best F1 finish so far was a 14th at the Bahrain Grand Prix last month; this season he has also finished 15th twice (China and Japan), 17th in Saudi Arabia and DNF’d twice at Australia and Miami respectively. Last weekend’s race at the Miami International Autodrome was the first time he had outqualified teammate Gasly since arriving at the team.

By contrast, Colapinto scored points in Azerbaijan and USA last season, with a highest finishing position of eighth. He also outqualified teammate Alex Albon on two occasions, matching the incumbent Thai driver for pace.

Alpine will be hoping that Colapinto can be closer to Gasly than Doohan was; the field is far tighter in terms of lap time and every tenth of a second is crucial.

But Colapinto will have to rein in his penchant for finding the barriers - he developed a bit of a habit for writing off his Williams last season, and Briatore won’t take kindly to that being replicated.