By James Broughton, May 7, 2025
Jack Doohan’s time in Formula One appeared limited even months before the start of the 2025 season. The Australian was already being considered for replacement by Franco Colapinto, who had joined Alpine as a reserve driver. Colapinto will have six races to prove himself, suggesting that Alpine may already have a preferred candidate waiting in the wings, though their identity remains unknown at this time. Doohan’s departure from the Alpine driver lineup comes as no surprise; this is standard practice in Formula One, where supposedly watertight contracts often leak like a sieve.
In Doohan’s case, it appears his seat was secured by sponsor backing, but when the money dried up, Alpine replaced him with another pay-for-hire driver, Franco Colapinto. Colapinto delivered a string of impressive performances as a rookie when he stepped in for Logan Sargeant at Williams in 2024, even securing a points finish. However, he also racked up a series of crashes that damaged his growing reputation.
Nevertheless, Flavio Briatore—Alpine’s de facto Team Principal since his reacceptance into the F1 fraternity—remains a central figure. Briatore was supposedly banned by the FIA following the infamous race-fixing scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Yet with Alpine, the spiritual successor to Benetton, back under his influence, Briatore seems to be operating once again in his trademark ruthless fashion.
Good Connections
Following Doohan’s dismissal, Briatore stated that Alpine will continue to support Jack Doohan, though such statements are often thinly veiled PR, a polite way of saying he’ll soon be forgotten. The Doohan/Colapinto situation is just another iteration of Formula One’s long-running driver merry-go-round—a cycle that has repeated itself countless times and will continue to do so.
But the real issue here is Briatore himself. When does a “permanent ban” actually become permanent? Briatore is an unprincipled cheat—the worst kind. However, he is well-connected, particularly within Renault, whose influence played a significant role in his return to Formula One.
Briatore should have no place in Formula One. And with the FIA’s heavy-handed enforcement of driver conduct aimed at preserving a polished public image, Briatore’s return only serves to further undermine the FIA’s already questionable credibility, undermined, most often, by the FIA itself.