Six races with Jack Doohan, and six for Franco Colapinto, but Alpine‘s results have been little better as the team’s gamble is still to prove worthwhile in Formula 1.
Having cast 21-year-old Doohan aside after just six weekends in 2025, the Anglo-French marque’s solution in Colapinto leaves them in no better position.
Neither driver has been able to match the experienced Frenchman Pierre Gasly in the other seat, with both on zero points after their six respective outings.
Despite the aforementioned Gasly’s best result of the season being sixth at the British Grand Prix, Alpine continue to reside last in the Constructors Championship.
With more changes behind the scenes, on-track results will need to improve if this season is to go down as anything other than another failure for the Enstone outfit.
Has Colapinto been a step forward for Alpine, or does the team need to impose another drastic driver decision to avoid bringing up the rear in the current campaign?
The tale of two rookies
Doohan entered the 2025 season as a rookie, although he did take part in the season finale in Abu Dhabi in 2024, taking the place of the departing Esteban Ocon.
For his first Grand Prix outing, a finishing position of 15th having started 17th, was solid enough as he did all that was asked of him.
Doohan gained vital experience of driving an F1 car in race trim and, more importantly, brought the car home in one piece, something that can’t always be expected of a rookie on debut.
Colapinto came into 2025 having completed the last nine races of 2024 with the Williams team, after replacing Logan Sargeant.
He picked up his first points with an eighth-place finish on the streets of Baku, and backed that up with a 10th-place finish at the United States Grand Prix in Austin.
But although he would finish the season with several sizeable crashes, his instant impact even caught Red Bull’s attention as it weighed up its driver pool.
Colapinto’s signing was a move that not only brought some lucrative sponsors to Alpine, but also put an extra bit of pressure on Doohan, which seemed to take its toll from the beginning.
The Australian’s best finish in his six weekends would be 13th, although this would only come after the disqualification of both Ferraris and team-mate Gasly from the Chinese Grand Prix.
This lack of results, alongside some costly incidents, including leaving his DRS open into Turn 1 at Suzuka, meant that patience was running thin with his team.
Pushed to perform too soon?
But should reports be believed, Doohan completed all that he was contracted to do in 2025.
Prior to the season starting, it was rumoured that the Australian had only been given a six-race contract to prove himself, something Alpine strongly denied at the time.
But seeing as he was dropped after six weekends anyway, perhaps there was more truth in the speculation than Alpine were willing to admit at the time.
When Alpine pulled the trigger to swap drivers, it hoped the Colapinto who scored points in his second outing for Williams would be the solution to the team’s troubles.
However, Colapinto’s six weekends in F1 for Alpine have seen him garner the same amount of points as the replaced Doohan, while he’s finished 13th on two occasions.
While Colapinto has been closer to Gasly in terms of lap times, points are the only thing that Alpine need right now, and as of now, Colapinto is not delivering on that front.
But like Doohan, rumours have floated around that Colapinto has also been given a short-term deal, once again applying unnecessary pressure to another rookie fighting at the foot.
Alpine’s 19 points so far in 2025 see it hold the record for the most points scored for a team in last place in the Championship, but it still sits 10 points behind the pack.
Finn to the Finish?
The truth is, the Alpine scenario mirrors the situation going on at Red Bull, although on a much smaller scale.
Both teams are suffering their own forms of turmoil off the track as well as a downward trend in performance on it compared to 2024.
As well as this, both teams have one driver producing some remarkable results, while the other side of the garage is struggling in comparison.
Despite the meagre position in the standings, Pierre Gasly has dragged the car into Q3 on seven occasions in 2025, in much the same way Verstappen has dragged the RB21 to race wins.
And much like Red Bull, compared to the work Gasly is doing in one car, at no point this season has the second car been close to replicating such results.
Therefore, Alpine find itself with a similar dilemma to the Milton Keynes-based squad: stick or twist?
Rumours have been rife recently surrounding a return to the grid for Finn Valtteri Bottas, not only for the 2026 campaign with the new Cadillac project, but also for 2025 with Alpine.
If Alpine see the situation to be so desperate, then perhaps a quick move for the experienced F1 race winner might be a final dice to avoid propping up the standings.
But one thing is for certain, the current decision to drop Doohan for Colapinto is yet to reap the rewards for an Alpine team desperate for some good news in 2025.
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