Franco Colapinto is set to continue as an Alpine Formula 1 race driver in 2026, with a formal announcement potentially coming as early as this week ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Colapinto, who joined Alpine in January on a multi-year deal from Williams, has been the favourite to be Pierre Gasly’s team-mate next year for several weeks after showing much improved form since F1’s summer break.
Combined with strong backing from Latin American, including Alpine sponsor Mercado Libre, Colapinto has now secured some longer-term security - having admitted at the previous race in Mexico he was hoping his situation would reach “a point where I can race with not so much stress, and a bit more relaxed”.
That should come from Brazil onwards, with confirmation of Colapinto due before this weekend’s race in South America – where he should have a lot of support from Argentina.
Colapinto’s continuation alongside Pierre Gasly for the start of Alpine’s new era as a Mercedes engine customer, not a works team, will also give the team stability after a turbulent 18 months.
Aside from Alpine’s slump to the very back of the grid on-track, it has had to deal with significant upheaval, including the return of ex-Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore as Alpine’s de facto team leader last summer, Renault axing its works F1 engine programme, Esteban Ocon being dropped before the 2024 finale, Ocon’s successor Jack Doohan being replaced by Colapinto after only six races in 2025, Oli Oakes joining as team principal in August 2024 only to abruptly resign in May 2025, and the shock exit of key F1 backer Luca de Meo as Renault CEO in June.
With this season sacrificed in the name of maximising the new rules in 2026, though, Alpine’s hope is that a lot of short-term pain has been necessary for a big gain next year.
So much needs to be improved that, in the end, its driver line-up has ended up not being Alpine’s limiting factor – although that is largely thanks to Colapinto making essential progress.
Colapinto’s situation has turned around from being talked down a lot by Briatore just a couple of months ago.
He struggled for several races after replacing Doohan, which raised the inevitable question over whether he would complete the season let alone continue for 2026 when, in August, Briatore admitted to making mistakes with Colapinto’s rapid promotion to a race seat earlier this year.
Briatore said “maybe it was not the time to have Franco in F1”, that he’s “not happy”, and “really it’s not what I expected from Colapinto”.
However, if it was just a ploy to try to light a fire under Colapinto, and/or tease a bit more money out of his backers, it worked, as Colapinto’s competitive situation since then has been much improved.
Colapinto is yet to finish in the points, and is highly unlikely to, given Alpine’s competitive position has only got worse as the year has progressed.
However, having only qualified and finished ahead of Gasly twice in eight events before the summer break, the two are three-all in the six events since, and Colapinto finished right behind him at the most recent race in Mexico, too.
There, Colapinto also took a step towards securing his future by outpacing Paul Aron, his only rival for the seat, in FP1.
Aron took over from Gasly for the Friday session in Mexico, and impressed the team yet again.
Though he was half a second slower than Colapinto, this was the second-best margin of any rookie to the team’s regular driver - with the low-grip, tricky Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez track not the easiest to step in and nail.
Still, the gap highlighted that Colapinto is a legitimate reference for Alpine.
And even though he made an avoidable error in qualifying losing a lap to track limits, Colapinto went on to have another improved weekend in terms of peak pace and overall performance despite Mexico being a shocker for the team itself.
When it comes, Colapinto’s confirmation will officially wipe out Doohan’s hopes of an F1 race return with Alpine.
As revealed by The Race, it was possible Doohan could even get on the grid again before the end of 2025, but despite raising finances to facilitate that it was ultimately contingent on whether Briatore felt Colapinto was doing a good enough job.
With that being the case, and Alpine intending to keep Colapinto in the seat not just to the end of the year but for 2026 as well, there has to be a question mark over where Doohan’s future lies.
An Alpine race seat was Doohan’s preferred option, and he is still Alpine’s reserve driver, but if he does not have a full-time F1 option then Doohan is known to be keen to secure a racing programme to avoid yet another compromised year.
Doohan’s not had a full season of racing since 2023, as he was Alpine’s reserve in 2024 in anticipation of stepping up to F1 and has done nothing since being dropped this year.
Conversations have been had with Cadillac, Williams, Haas and Sauber to explore what positions could be available should Doohan split with Alpine.
Although a test and reserve role would be most likely all that exists for Doohan in other teams too, a serious race seat chance in 2027 would be the main appeal. Haas, for example, has Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon until the end of 2026 for now – either of those seats could become available in 2027.
The ideal would be twinning a role that gets Doohan into an F1 car at times with a racing programme, for example Japan’s Super Formula series – which has often been the series of choice for stuck F1 reserves.
To get to that stage, though, Doohan and Alpine must work out what future they have together and – if there is none – what kind of resolution is possible.
