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We're still two months from the start of the Formula 1 season but already one of the drivers on the 2025 grid appears at risk.
Aided by a one-off headstart at the end of 2024, Jack Doohan is busy preparing for his rookie season, but while he's doing so Alpine has officially added another F1 driver into the fold - signing Franco Colapinto on a multi-year deal.
The obvious implication that Colapinto, initially slotting in as reserve driver, will be ready to swoop in to partner Pierre Gasly if Alpine decides Doohan doesn't meet its performance criteria.
Is what happens next inevitable? Is this all incredibly harsh on Doohan? Or does he still have some control?
Here are our team's thoughts:
No room for sentimentality in F1
Jon Noble
Imagine just getting promoted to your dream job and, before you have properly got your feet under the desk, the bosses appoint someone else to act as a fallback just in case you are not up to it. Be uncomfortable wouldn't it?
Well, welcome to Jack Doohan's world. Ahead of his first full F1 season, the Australian well knows that Colapinto will be chomping at the bit to get his hands on his car - and has a lot of big-money sponsors behind him to make sure that happens.
Some will suggest that this is perhaps a bit unfair on Doohan, as it adds some unnecessary pressure on him at a time when he should be given all the support possible to help deliver to his best during the pretty intense schedule at the start of the year.
But it's not unfair. This is Formula 1. There is not much room for sentimentality and just being nice in the intense world of grand prix racing.
It is an environment where everybody has to perform to their best; and if you are not up to the job then it is time to move on and get somebody better in.
Doohan would probably be the first to accept that himself, and would not want it any other way.
He will want to prove to the world that he is in the car not just because he has a contract but because he is the best driver available. It's never been any other way: the results on track will do all the talking.
This will only end one way
Ben Anderson
I can only see this ending with Colapinto replacing Doohan at some point during 2025.
Alpine is a team going through a serious downsizing, shedding staff and cutting costs, and I suspect the commercial appeal of Colapinto in South America - the depth of which surprised even Williams when it promoted him in place of Logan Sargeant - will be too strong to resist for a team in Alpine's position.
Colapinto is likely to be every bit as good, if not better, in the car than Doohan, but seemingly brings with him the sort of commercial profile in his native land that helped Sergio Perez prolong his F1 career after being overlooked by Ferrari and rejected by McLaren.
Alpine is of course not in the sort of dire situation financially that Force India so regularly was back when Perez became its lynchpin, before Lawrence Stroll took over, but there is more obviously a focus on shrinking costs at Alpine now it's transitioning from being a fully fledged Renault works outfit into a much leaner Mercedes customer team.
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Promoting Doohan from its own academy after cutting ties with Ocon in 2024 seemed to fit with that 'let's be leaner' strategy, as does creating a wide pool of reserve drivers - to which we can now add sportscar champion Ryo Hirakawa, alongside Colapinto and Formula 2 race winner Paul Aron.
'We have multiple drivers in our pool and can rotate as we see fit', is a methodology Red Bull has become infamous for, and I suspect we'll hear similar from Alpine senior management when the Doohan/Colapinto switch eventually comes.
But it will be Colapinto's capacity to bring in new sponsors, while also being dynamic, fearless and every bit as fast as anyone else Alpine could realistically put in the car, that will ultimately do the talking here, I suspect.
This leaves a sour taste
Val Khorounzhiy
Doohan looked decent on his debut in Abu Dhabi, but if Alpine believes Colapinto would be a performance upgrade, loyalty to Doohan is no real reason to deny itself that upgrade - not in the world of F1, anyway.
But the way this is playing out is leaving a really sour taste.
Doohan's not even started his first season yet and he's already under intense public pressure, as part of a team that has seemingly made a point of not publicly committing to him for the full season and is now about to formally appoint a designated 'guy we'll replace you with if you're not good'.
Even Red Bull would bristle at treating a rookie that way, and while it's technically true it's very much in Doohan's hands to safeguard his seat - and that every underperforming F1 driver risks getting the axe by default - I think that's a very absolutist way to view things.
You can still be set up for failure, and your already-difficult job can still be made harder than it needs to be. Alpine's approach to Doohan's rookie season now ensures that he will face questions about being replaced in pre-season testing and all throughout the opening races - and that the threat of the axe will immediately be part of the discussion (and something at the back of his mind) whenever he underperforms in a session, which he will do because he is a rookie.
What would Charles Leclerc's F1 career have looked like if, when he was being comprehensively beaten by Marcus Ericsson in the first couple of races, there was an alternative driver being publicly dangled as a potential replacement?
He'd probably still have got to where he ended up - but a young driver needs the faith of the structure behind him, and Doohan, whatever the long-term plan for him is, deserves a gentler touch than this.
Makes sense for Williams
Scott Mitchell-Malm
Williams consciously put itself in an unusual position last year, drafting in a young driver for less than half a season despite the seat already being filled for 2025.
Though it had good belief in Colapinto, realistically Williams wasn't expecting him to do so well that it made signing Carlos Sainz a mistake! And on balance, Colapinto didn't. He just gave a generally good account of himself with a very impressive peak, and showed he would be an interesting option for a full-time race seat.
Williams has no need to offer him that. The Sainz/Alex Albon combination should, in theory, serve it well for years to come.
So, Williams knew that the best-case scenario for Colapinto - do well enough to attract interest from elsewhere - was a pretty good scenario for the team itself.
It signed Colapinto to a long-term contract, to command a nice payday if someone wanted to get hold of him. Whatever the exact details, Williams will be financially compensated for Colapinto's new role.
Given Williams is unlikely to regret having either of those two drivers over Colapinto, cashing in on external interest in him then rejigging its queue of juniors to give more opportunities to others - with Luke Browning well regarded - is financially prudent and makes sense from a sporting perspective.
And it hasn't stood in the way of a good young driver getting a potentially better opportunity elsewhere, either.
Doohan's still in control of his destiny
Edd Straw
Recruiting Colapinto will lead to endless laments for how badly Alpine is treating Doohan by creating a looming threat to his drive. But the fact is, Doohan has the most powerful weapon in F1 at his disposal: incumbency.
It might seem inevitable he will be replaced sooner rather than later, but Doohan can prevent that happening simply by delivering in the cockpit. F1 is a harsh environment that demands the best from its drivers and there's always an army of rivals jostling to displace you. To prevent that happening, you must do the job at the highest level possible.
Doohan is clearly quick, has an excellent work ethic and didn't only earn this seat through chance - so he has shown genuine potential. He also knows the team well, has racked up thousands of kilometres of testing, and benefitted from the rolling start of competing in Abu Dhabi last year. That's a solid foundation to build on quickly.
Regardless of the ability of Colapinto, which is already proven, and the fact he can bring backing, if Doohan is fast and gets results then he will not be replaced. That puts enormous pressure on him, but that's the name of the game in elite sport. The very best have the ironclad mental strength to make the most of any opportunity and become undroppable. It's down to Doohan to make himself indispensable.
That might sound harsh, but it’s the reality in F1. The history of grand prix racing is littered with drivers who converted the slither of a chance into a great career - the looming threats that meant they were at risk long forgotten - but even more full of those who couldn't make the most of their chances. Environment plays a part and can make the difference between success or failure for merely the good - whereas the great ones find a way to prevail.
What happens in the early races of 2025 will dictate if Doohan can have a lengthy F1 career or a perfunctory one. But for all the criticism of how unfair the situation may be, he is the one in the cockpit with the means to decide his own fate.
An upgrade for Colapinto
Glenn Freeman
Looking at this from Colapinto's perspective, this is a decent upgrade in his F1 circumstances.
There's no reason to believe there will be a vacancy at Williams any time soon now it has an impressive line-up of Sainz and Albon.
And not only has Colapinto moved to a team where there's more chance of a race drive becoming available before that's the case at Williams, but let's not overlook the fact he's moving to a team currently capable of producing a faster car. Alpine's start to 2024 was horrific, but it then showcased a performance leap in-season that looks beyond Williams at the moment.
Williams may get to that level eventually, and Alpine could find new ways to be chaotic or even end up being sold. But given how any avenues to a race drive at Williams appear closed for the foreseeable future, Colapinto has found another home that has every chance of offering a more competitive car if he gets a chance to race it.
Alpine's making sure it's prepared
Gary Anderson
Flavio Briatore has never been shy about going out and getting what he wanted. Just ask Eddie Jordan about the 1991 saga with Michael Schumacher post-Spa.
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Colapinto in his short time in F1 has proved he has the speed to be there. Yes, he has had a few crashes, but in reality knowing that he had limited time to prove his worth he ended up driving well above the car he had at the time.
All this shows that given the chance he is willing and capable of putting what he has on the limit.
Having him in the background as a reserve driver will put just that little bit of extra pressure on Alpine's current drivers and further strengthen it in depth as a team. Then, it will be well prepared should one of them slip on a banana skin - or, to put it more bluntly, not perform.
Doohan's record doesn't scream 'F1'
Jack Benyon
F1 is a business, and teams like Red Bull have shown us the pitfalls of not succession-planning properly.
So if Doohan fails to perform, Alpine has a ready-made solution in Colapinto and its shareholders - while possibly upset with the signing of Doohan in the first place in this scenario - will see that the team is always planning ahead and prepared.
Alpine hasn't always been the best-managed team so this is a nice bit of evidence to the contrary for its detractors.
Doohan's record doesn’t scream "put me in F1", so he's not in a position to make demands or do anything other than control his own fate. Prove the doubters wrong, or be moved aside.
The signing of Colapinto is irrelevant in that. It's a performance business and that's all Doohan has to do to condemn this story to the history books.
