Martin Brundle tells Franco Colapinto when he should ‘definitely’ be concerned for his Alpine F1 future

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Franco Colapinto will head into the summer break that follows the 2025 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix facing an uncertain future, having struggled to shine for Alpine this season.

The 22-year-old replaced Jack Doohan in the Alpine ranks in May as executive adviser Flavio Briatore chose to make a change ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola after the Australian did not earn a single point this year. But Colapinto is yet to justify why he came in.

Sunday’s Hungarian GP will mark Colapinto’s seventh Grand Prix start and eighth race entry since he replaced Doohan at Alpine. But the Argentine has also so far failed to earn a single point, with personal-best finishes of P13 in Monaco and Canada since taking over the A525.

Doohan also earned a personal-best finish of P13 in China through the first six rounds of the 2025 F1 season. The 22-year-old made his Formula 1 debut with Alpine at the final round of 2024 in Abu Dhabi. Colapinto made his debut with Williams last term and started nine races.

Martin Brundle thinks Franco Colapinto ‘definitely’ faces an uncertain Alpine future past 2025

As there was no room at the inn in Grove with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, Williams loaned Colapinto to Alpine for five years for £8.5m in January. The deal would deliver the Argentine a seat on the grid in May, but Colapinto is now only racing for Alpine on a race-by-race basis.

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

Mercedes reserve driver Valtteri Bottas may replace Colapinto at Alpine during the summer break, as well, with the Finn eager to return to the grid. But Martin Brundle thinks the point Colapinto should fear the most is at the end of the season, unless he can improve his form.

Brundle told Sky Sports F1 (02/08, 14:28): “Colapinto, well, he’s still in it, isn’t he? You hear different stories about his sponsorship, arriving [and] not arriving.

“He’s certainly not doing a particularly good job. He looked really spectacular in the early days at Williams, didn’t he? Then he crashed a lot at Williams after that. So, it doesn’t bode [well]. I think 2026 definitely doesn’t bode particularly well.

“But the trouble is with Flavio, as I know well, you’re a disposable item as a racing driver, generally speaking. That’s sort of been his MO through the years because this is a competitive business, not a finishing school, something I’ve said many times before. If you don’t deliver, you’re like a light bulb. They’ll take you out and put another bulb in.”

Alpine are getting fed up with Franco Colapinto’s frequent mistakes

Colapinto instantly hit the ground running after replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams before the 2024 Italian Grand Prix at Monza last August. He also took points with P8 in his second outing at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and finished the United States GP in the points with P10.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage

But the wheels fell off his wagon, literally, towards the end of the 2024 F1 season. Colapinto crashed behind the safety car in the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, having already destroyed his Williams in qualifying. Also, Colapinto crashed in qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

It is Colapinto’s errors that Alpine have seen more than his speed so far this term. Colapinto crashed in qualifying on his Alpine debut at Imola. He would also not get out of Q1 in Spain after burning his clutch, and Colapinto burnt his clutch to fail to start the British Grand Prix.

Now, Colapinto is facing an uncertain future at Alpine heading into the summer break after the Hungarian GP, and he may not return for the Dutch Grand Prix on August 29-31. Alpine have a bigger problem with Colapinto’s errors than his lack of raw speed with the A525, too.

Bottas has admitted that he is open to a ‘short-term’ move amid being linked with Alpine, as well as widely being touted as the favourite to sign for Cadillac ahead of their debut in 2026. Colapinto, meanwhile, has no security going into the summer that he will race at Zandvoort.