Jack Doohan fired by Alpine in bombshell move, Franco Colapinto replaces him in Imola: Reports

The move that the paddock has speculated about even before the 2025 season started has reportedly been done forth as Jack Doohan is set to be replaced by Franco Colapinto at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The 22-year-old made his debut with the French team last year at Abu Dhabi, but has failed to convince the team's hierarchy that he has what it takes to stay in F1.

After Esteban Ocon's decision to exit the Enstone-based squad was done and dusted, Alpine had to look for a driver to fill the void created by Ocon for the 2025 season. However, the team took the easy route and decided to promote its junior driver, Jack Doohan, to the F1 realm.

While the Aussie driver got an early chance of driving the Alpine A524 at Abu Dhabi last year after Ocon made a premature exit, his performance seemingly did not entice the French garage. The team went into the driver market yet again and bought out Franco Colapinto from his existing contract at Williams.

This increased the burden on Doohan heading into the 2025 season, and he had to get his things sorted to prevent his F1 dream from collapsing. While he showcased impressive performance at times, these snippets of results also came with the caveat of some clashes.

On the other hand, Alpine was initially expected to give Jack Doohan till the summer break to prove his strength. However, according to The Race, the senior figures at the French team have decided to sack Doohan ahead of the race in Imola and informed him about the decision at the Miami GP weekend.

This decision is understood to be partly taken due to the Aussie's inability to score points in comparison to Pierre Gasly.

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Was it all Jack Doohan's fault for not scoring points with Alpine?

Jack Doohan at the F1 Grand Prix of Miami - Source: Getty

Results are the biggest metric in the racing realm, and while the 22-year-old might not have the statistics on his side, he was maybe not entirely wrong for subpar performances. As a rookie, teams often understand how adapting to the F1 realm takes time for young runners and provides them the leeway to make mistakes and learn from them.

Doohan was supposedly not given such a buffer, as his evaluation was based on performance metrics. But, his performances were often sabotaged by operational mistakes, like at the Sprint qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, where he was troubled by his team's decision to allow Gasly out of the pits, as he said over the radio:

"Man, that is not acceptable, that is not acceptable. If you are going to send him after me, you have to make sure he is ready or before me, I can’t turn out and then have to turn in because he is going to run into me and then you guys put me out of Q1, that’s a joke."

This resulted in Jack Doohan not being able to make it to the start line as the chequered flag fell on the track and he was relegated in SQ1. This has seemingly been partially at fault for his supposed axing, as Franco Colapinto will be soon making his way into the Alpine garage as a full-time F1 driver.