According to British media, Briatore has already made the official decision to promote Colapinto starting from Imola.
Franco Colapinto could make his Formula 1 debut in the 2025 season beginning with the Imola Grand Prix. According to British sources close to Alpine, Flavio Briatore has officially decided to replace Jack Doohan with the Argentine driver, and the change is set to happen immediately. The former Williams junior is expected to take part in the Imola race, the seventh round of the season. The decision was reportedly driven by Doohan’s lackluster performances, with the Australian having never truly found stability since the start of his F1 journey.
In an interview with Sky Sport Italia in Miami, Flavio Briatore had this to say about the son of the multi-time motorcycle world champion: “I hear people talking about pressure, but if you want to race in F1, pressure is always there… So if someone tells me that a driver is feeling pressure because another one might take his seat, I expect that to be a reason to perform well.
Doohan? When I arrived, the contract with him was already in place, I had no influence on that. But I hear Doohan is under pressure, so I rule him out—because this is Formula 1. If someone performs well, then there’s no issue with replacements. Right now, we are evaluating things, we’ll see how the next races go, and then we’ll decide.” “.
Briatore went on to add: “This year is for us as we wait for the Mercedes engine in 2026. We’ll see, but it’s true that there is a lot of responsibility on the drivers, because the results of a thousand people working behind the scenes depend on them. So we have to be fair to the drivers, but they also have to be fair to us. We’ll evaluate things race by race. Right now, the only thing we need to do is try to get at least one car into the points zone here in Miami. But I don’t accept it when people say the problem is pressure—because when you get to F1, everyone is under pressure.” “.
Photo: X Alpine F1 Team
