Alpine closes the door on a quick Doohan comeback as Colapinto stays put
Any simmering talk of Jack Doohan jumping back into an F1 seat this season has been put on ice. In Singapore, both Alpine and Williams made it clear there’s no immediate route back to a full-time drive for the Australian, who started 2025 at Alpine before being sidelined after Miami.
Doohan’s year began with a caveat attached. Alpine publicly framed his promotion as part of an ongoing evaluation, with a rotation on the table if the results didn’t land. They didn’t: six rounds, no points, and a switch followed after Miami. In stepped Franco Colapinto, the Argentine who caught the eye at Williams late in 2024 when he replaced Logan Sargeant.
And yet, even with the reset, Alpine’s scoreboard hasn’t lit up. Colapinto is also still chasing his first points of 2025. The team initially said the change would cover five races. That shelf life has now been extended: the current pairing is set to run to the end of the season.
“Jack is still part of our program,” Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen said during the team principals’ press conference in Singapore. “He drove for us the first few races of the season. We made a change. Franco’s now in the car. We constantly assess our options… But I can’t give you an update on if or when he will drive again, no.”
It’s a firm line from Enstone, and it’s matched in Grove. Any notion that Williams might provide a lifeline was also dismissed. Team boss James Vowles pointed to the depth of his own stable — and to the philosophy that put Colapinto in a Williams last year in the first place.
“From our side, as far as we’re aware, Jack is contracted with Alpine,” Vowles said. “We have our own young driver program. We’ve got Luke [Browning], who’s second in the [Formula 2] championship, and for me — as we did with Franco as well — it’s about developing, really, our own internal structure and drivers.”
That all leaves Doohan where he is today: on standby. He remains Alpine’s reserve, eligible to step in if circumstances demand it, but not queued for a racing return on merit before the finale.
It’s a harsh snapshot of the rookie squeeze in 2025. Alpine set a ruthless tone early by telegraphing the possibility of rotation, then following through. The logic was clear enough: find performance wherever it appears. The reality is messier. Colapinto’s promotion hasn’t flipped Alpine’s fortunes overnight, and the team’s decision to stick rather than twist suggests they’re trading churn for continuity while they try to steady the ship.
For Doohan, the calculus is different now. Without a Williams option and with Alpine closing ranks until year-end, the path back is less about lap time and more about timing. One opportunity — the substitute call — is real but unpredictable. The other — a reset over the winter — is a longer game and depends on what Alpine wants its future to look like.
No drama. No grand reveal. Just the quiet thud of doors closing for now. In a season that promised rotation, Alpine’s revolving door has slowed to a stop — and Doohan, helmet in hand, waits on the other side.
