Why Franco Colapinto did not replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull as Alpine announce Jack Doohan swap

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Franco Colapinto now has a chance to prove Red Bull wrong, as Alpine have confirmed that the Argentine has replaced Jack Doohan ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The Enstone outfit have decided to demote Australian rookie Doohan to a reserve role, with Colapinto stepping up to partner Pierre Gasly in their race seats. But Alpine have stated that the 21-year-old is only guaranteed the next five rounds of the 2025 season to keep his drive.

Alpine will carry out a ‘new evaluation’ process before the British Grand Prix from July 4-6 to decide if Colapinto will continue on as Gasly’s teammate for the remainder of 2025. Doohan will also spend the period as Alpine’s first-choice reserve driver after losing the team’s belief.

Alpine demote Jack Doohan with Franco Colapinto to race in the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola

Doohan faced an uphill fight over the early rounds of the 2025 F1 season to convince Alpine executive adviser Flavio Briatore and Groupe Renault CEO Luca de Meo he merited the drive after Alpine paid Williams £8.5m to sign Colapinto as one of their reserve drivers in January.

READ MORE: Who is Alpine 2025 F1 driver Franco Colapinto? Everything you need to know

But the 22-year-old failed to score a single point and Doohan cost Alpine more than any rival driver in crash damage repairs. He even lost his biggest supporter after team principal Oliver Oakes left Alpine with immediate effect on Tuesday as Alpine ‘leaked’ Briatore axed Doohan.

Now, Colapinto has the next five rounds from the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola on May 16-18 to the British GP to show Alpine made the right decision demoting Doohan. It also offers the Buenos Aires native a chance to prove Red Bull were wrong rejecting Colapinto in December.

Red Bull rejected signing Franco Colapinto in favour of Liam Lawson to replace Sergio Perez

Red Bull showed strong interest in Colapinto last year following his superb start as a stand-in driver with Williams from the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Williams promoted their academy product to replace Logan Sargeant, and saw Colapinto score five points over his nine rounds.

Even team principal Christian Horner confirmed Red Bull’s interest in Colapinto as the Milton Keynes outfit weighed up replacing Sergio Perez. But, ultimately, they rejected the Argentine in favour of promoting one of their own with Liam Lawson instead moved from Racing Bulls.

Yet the Kiwi’s dream move to Milton Keynes only lasted two rounds before Yuki Tsunoda got Lawson’s Red Bull drive from the Japanese Grand Prix. The 23-year-old did not score a point after crashing in Australia and he was the slowest driver in both qualifying sessions in China.

Franco Colapinto joined Alpine after Red Bull backed away over his expensive crashes at Williams

Alpine and Red Bull both considered signing Colapinto from Williams as there was zero room at the inn for the Argentine in Grove after they signed Carlos Sainz to replace Sargeant in the 2025 season. Colapinto also impressed after making his Formula 1 debut at Monza last year.

Despite only driving in one FP1 session prior to his debut at the Italian GP, Colapinto secured 12th place at Monza and scored his first points next time out with P8 in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He also scored points again in the United States Grand Prix after coming 10th in Austin.

Red Bull considered offering Williams £15.5m for Colapinto after his instant results, as well. But that offer never materialised as the Argentine’s results hit free fall, with multiple costly crashes at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and a very expensive shunt at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Despite Colapinto only doing a bit-part season at Williams, having replaced Sargeant for just the last nine rounds, the Argentine even came sixth out of 23 drivers for the damage he cost the Grove crew. According to MostlyF1, Colapinto also cost more than eight rivals combined.

Colapinto and Alex Albon cost Williams seven figures in Sao Paulo after both drivers crashed in qualifying for the Grand Prix, in which the former endured another costly shunt. Williams paid the price after Colapinto destroyed their car behind the safety car at Turn 15 on Lap 32.

The Argentine would also leave Williams counting their pennies, again, as Colapinto crashed in qualifying for the Las Vegas GP. He destroyed their car for the third time in two rounds by failing to learn his lesson for clipping the T5 concrete wall at T15 and it broke his suspension.

So, Red Bull lost interest in signing Colapinto after his expensive crashes with Williams in the Sao Paulo and Las Vegas Grands Prix. But their decision to promote Lawson to replace Perez did not work, so Red Bull may not want Colapinto to thrive after replacing Doohan at Alpine.