Since replacing Doohan after the Miami Grand Prix, Colapinto has struggled to make a significant impact, with a best finish no higher than 13th and a best qualifying position of 12th. In the same period, Doohan also achieved a best result of 13th but a best qualifying position of 11th.
The pair both out-qualified teammate Pierre Gasly only once in each of those six outings, although Doohan also out-qualified Gasly in the Chinese Grand Prix sprint qualifying. Gasly scored six points while teammates with Doohan, and 13 points alongside Colapinto, including a season-high finish of sixth at last weekend’s British Grand Prix.
When it comes to qualifying gaps, Doohan’s average gap to Gasly in his six races was 0.287 seconds, while in his first six races for Alpine, Colapinto’s average gap to his teammate has been 0.302 seconds. Combining both sprint and race qualifying sessions — with Doohan having the slight advantage of two sprint weekends compared to Colapinto’s zero — Doohan managed to finish ahead of Gasly in four of his 10 qualifying sessions, while Colapinto has done so only once in seven qualifying sessions.
Outside his performance relative to his teammate, Colapinto’s time at Alpine has also been marred by several on-track incidents, including a heavy qualifying crash at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and a controversial moment in Austria where he forced championship leader Oscar Piastri off the track while being lapped.
Look out, Franco!
Oscar Piastri is forced onto the grass by Colapinto 😰#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/EhgL70DnuJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 29, 2025
He added another spin in qualifying at Silverstone, going off at the final corner and terminally damaging his Alpine in Q1, before ultimately retiring from the race on Sunday after stalling in the pit lane ahead of the start.
These mistakes have compounded the pressure on the 22-year-old, who remains on a race-by-race contract and faces a looming battle to keep his seat.
Despite the growing speculation over his future, Colapinto has maintained a calm front. After his qualifying incident on Saturday, he told media that he was “not very concerned” about the possibility of being replaced ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix later this month, though he acknowledged that “talks are always taking place.”
“I just need to keep working and trying to help the team to improve the car,” he said. “Today was not ideal. I think we did some good steps, but definitely not what we wanted.”
However, Colapinto’s reassurances have done little to ease the pressure internally.
Alpine executive advisor and interim team principal Flavio Briatore, the man behind Doohan’s ousting and Colapinto’s promotion, has publicly voiced his frustrations with the Argentinian’s performances.
After his qualifying crash on Saturday, Briatore said, “Franco, he knows he made a mistake and needs to improve and come back strongly in the race tomorrow.”
A week earlier after qualifying in Austria, Briatore lamented, “Franco was through Q1 but too far away to reach Q3, which we need to improve if we are to put ourselves in a more competitive position with both cars.”
These comments followed earlier ones in the season, where Briatore was even more blunt on the Argentinian’s performance: “He crashed right away on the first race weekend… I’m not happy at all.”
The situation has been further complicated by the emergence of Valtteri Bottas as a potential replacement candidate.
The experienced Finn, a 10-time Grand Prix winner, is currently Mercedes’ third driver and has publicly expressed a strong desire to return to a full-time race seat. Media reports following the Austrian Grand Prix suggested Alpine’s Briatore had approached Mercedes regarding Bottas’s availability.
This was confirmed during the British Grand Prix by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who told media he had spoken with Briatore “a few times” about a possible move for Bottas to Alpine.
“I saw him [Briatore] today and we talked about Valtteri. It seems that the interest in Valtteri is increasing even more,” he said. “He deserves that seat. If someone grabs him as a race driver, we’ll let him go. Of course, with a tear in the corner of our eye.
“Ultimately, I give him advice as a friend. Valtteri ultimately makes the choice with his management.
“I try to stay in the background.”
LAS DECLARACIONES DE TOTO SOBRE BOTTAS DE SU BOCA !!!
(lo peor que he tenido que traducir hasta ahora… 😢)#BritishGP #Bottas #Wolff #Alpine #Briatore #Colapintopic.twitter.com/heQTijwMpa
— ColapintoF1AR (@colapintof1ar) July 6, 2025
Given Alpine’s planned switch to Mercedes power units next year, a Bottas move is viewed as plausible and could bring much-needed experience to the struggling team, which currently sits last in the Constructors’ Championship.
Bottas, who has also been linked to Cadillac’s new F1 project in 2026, has publicly expressed his desire to return to racing, saying earlier this year: “I definitely still feel… I’m not done yet with F1… I still have more to give.”
Briatore, however, denied that the team was interested in Bottas to replace Colapinto when asked during the British Grand Prix.
“I have no such information, absolutely not,” he said. “He is a good driver, but right now we have our own guys. If we change, I will tell you.”
Alpine’s decision to demote Doohan was highly controversial, with many across the paddock expressing their disdain at the decision — which had always seemed inevitable from the moment Colapinto was signed as the team’s third driver late in 2024.
Briatore initially defended the choice as a “manager’s responsibility to make tough calls,” comparing it to past decisions like promoting a young Fernando Alonso over more experienced drivers.
“Mistakes are inevitable… The key is to quickly adjust your course… That decision unleashed the fury of the British press. But in the end, I was right,” he said in an interview earlier this year.
Since his demotion, Doohan has remained relatively silent, continuing to attend Grand Prix weekends as the team’s third driver — a role he retained following the change — and making occasional public appearances at other events.
During the Emilia Romagna weekend, he took to social media to ask people to “stop harassing my family” after several fake posts surfaced showing his father Mick supposedly commenting on Colapinto’s crash. Since then, Doohan has posted very little publicly.
As Alpine prepares for the Belgian Grand Prix later this month, all eyes will be on Colapinto to see if he can arrest the slide and prove he deserves to keep his seat, with pressure only set to intensify as the season enters its second half.
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