James Vowles hints Alpine have already made a mistake with Williams product Franco Colapinto

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Franco Colapinto left Williams to join Alpine as a reserve driver on a five-year loan deal before the 2025 Formula 1 season, and it has already paid off after his debut at Imola.

Enstone chiefs handed Colapinto a return to the F1 grid last time out at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after Alpine demoted Jack Doohan back to a reserve driver role. The 21-year-old did not have a great first race for the Renault-owned crew, though, as he only achieved P16.

Colapinto’s Q1 crash at Imola also brought out the red flag at the end of the opening phase. The Argentine lost control of his A525 on the Turn 3 exit kerb out of the Tamburello chicane and he spun nose-first into the T4 barrier, with Colapinto destroying the front-end of his car.

A shaky start to the Emilia Romagna GP also put Colapinto on the back foot from P16 on the grid. He now gets a second chance to show why Alpine executive adviser Flavio Briatore put his trust in Williams product Colapinto to replace Doohan at this week’s Monaco Grand Prix.

James Vowles hints Alpine made a mistake promoting Franco Colapinto after Williams favoured experience signing Carlos Sainz

But while Alpine chief Briatore gave Colapinto a five-round contract to replace Doohan, the latest reason Williams team principal James Vowles has given for why his Grove crew signed Carlos Sainz hints their rivals from Enstone have made an error by promoting their product.

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

Williams saw what Colapinto can offer in Formula 1 last year as he stood in for the last nine rounds. Vowles dropped Logan Sargeant ahead of the 2024 Italian Grand Prix at Monza and put Colapinto in their car next to Alex Albon, but Sainz had already agreed to arrive in 2025.

Now, Vowles says Williams beat Alpine and Audi to sign Sainz as experienced F1 drivers can ‘make the difference’ in a close-fought field. Sunday’s Monaco GP will be the 30-year-old’s 217th Grand Prix entry since debuting with Toro Rosso at the Australian Grand Prix in 2015.

Vowles said, via quotes by Auto Motor und Sport: “In such a tightly packed field, the drivers ultimately make the difference. That’s why we relied on experience.”

Franco Colapinto must prove his inexperience in F1 is not a drawback to stay at Alpine

Sainz has scored points in four of his first seven Grands Prix for Williams, who saw Colapinto score points in two of his first four Formula 1 races last year before his form fell away with a spate of expensive crashes. Colapinto scored five points in total, while Sainz sits on 11 now.

READ MORE: Williams star Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

Colapinto scored his only points in F1 thus far with P8 in the 2024 Azerbaijan GP and P10 in the United States GP. He recovered from an early crash in practice to reach Q3 and score his first Formula 1 points in Baku, as well. But he cannot repeat the crashes that then followed.

Alpine are considering Mick Schumacher as a replacement for Colapinto now, as the German could be a low-maintenance alternative if the Argentine does not deliver over his five-round run. Also, Colapinto knows Alpine could replace him with Paul Aron ahead of the British GP.

The best way that Colapinto can convince Briatore to keep him in the car, and to potentially show Vowles that Williams made the mistake not backing his potential over Sainz, is for the Alpine racer to start taking regular points and stop the crashes that blighted his run in 2024.

Alpine paid Williams £8.5m to sign Colapinto on loan for five years. So, they will not like him keep costing the Enstone team huge sums with vast repair bills like he did at the Grove crew in 2024 as Colapinto’s crashes cost Williams the sixth-most of any 2024 F1 driver at £2.19m.