Alpine envisages the immediate replacement of Doohan by Colapinto

Will the start of the European season already mark the end of the Jack Doohan campaign? It is in any case a probability when her stable, Alpine, is currently caressing the idea of ​​replacing him with Franco Colapinto, appointed reservist at the start of the year, according to the information collected by Motorsport.com.

Already under a great pressure since the arrival of the Argentinian in the ranks of the stable, Doohan has so far signed any particularly notable result and was mainly noted by his involvement in several incidents on the track, no later than this Sunday evening during the first turns of the Miami GP, when he hung on with Liam Lawson. He had also been the author of a huge trip to Suzuka in free tests, when he had approached the first turn without deactivating his DRS.

Alpine seems to have this season of a more promising car than last year at this stage of the campaign. However, so far, the A525 has only finished in the points at one recovery at the end of a race, with the seventh place of Pierre Gasly in Bahrain. In Miami, the Frenchman scored another unit at the end of the sprint, but after three penalties inflicted on pilots who had finished in front of him. The Franco-British team is currently ninth in the manufacturers’ ranking, only ahead of Stake Sauber.

Its rather disappointing results and its accidents have done nothing, so far, to dispel the rumors surrounding the short -term future of Doohan, rumors which have also been largely fueled by the speech of the officials of the structure of Enstone. Even more, in recent weeks, the CEO of the Argentine oil company YPF, Horacio Marín, launched that Colapinto would be in the Alpine “to imole” After a television interview, before retropedaler explaining that it was a wish and not an assertion.

Before the Miami Grand Prix, the director of Alpine, Oliver Oakes, said: “I think it was an Argentinian sponsor, outside the camera, which gave his point of view on Franco and the moment he rides in the car. I’m sure there are a lot of people in Argentina who would like him to be in the car this Sunday. Our team was very open to the fact that they are only rumors. Jack must continue to do good work.

However, when a less ambiguous response was requested on the presence of Doohan in Imola, Oakes dropped that the Australian was the pilot of the stable “Currently“, before adding that the team “Establish permanently” son line-up.

Imola will mark the start of a series of three consecutive Grands Prix for the return of F1 to Europe, since the Italian race will be followed by Monaco and Barcelona. According to our information, Alpine, however, would not particularly have this logistical timing in mind when making her decision, whatever it is. In addition, Colapinto has since arrived within the team the subject of an intensive preparation, whether in simulator or via private tests.

Colapinto marked the spirits last year by replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams. He even allowed himself to register points during the Azerbaijan and United States tests, then arousing rumors going so far as to send it to Red Bull. However, the very end of the season has also been strewn by several accidents, notably in Las Vegas and Brazil, which distant the perspective that he joins the Austrian program. It was however at this point that Alpine entered the dance to integrate the pilot into her pool of reservists.

In addition to what he was sportingly demonstrated last year, Colapinto is accompanied by a cohort of sponsors wishing to support his presence in F1. The “Amazon of South America”, namely the Mercado Libre company, has already joined Alpine as a partner.

With Filip Cleeren