Timeline set for Franco Colapinto's departure from Alpine: Reports

It is being reported that Alpine will part ways with Franco Colapinto at the end of the 2025 season. The Argentine driver was brought into the Enstone-based outfit at the start of the year as a reserve driver and was promoted to a full-time seat after six races into the season, replacing Jack Doohan.

The 22-year-old impressed everyone with his performances during his short stint with the Williams F1 team at the end of the 2024 season, where he replaced Logan Sergeant and even pushed his much-established teammate Alex Albon on occasions. Colapinto was part of the Driver Academy of the Grove-based outfit and was purchased from the team by Flavio Briatore.

However, his eight races with Alpine have been disappointing, given his crashes in key moments and inconsistent performances. While he was initially signed for five races, it was later clarified that he was on a race-by-race situation with the French team.

As per Auto Motor Und Sport, Alpine would drop Franco Colapinto at the end of the year and will go for a new driver lineup for the new regulations in 2026. The young Argentine has failed to score any points with the French team and has only shown glimpses of pace on race weekends.

Although neither the driver nor the team have confirmed the reports, it would be fascinating to see if the situation changes in the second half of the 2025 season.

Franco Colapinto reflects on his struggles with Alpine

Alpine driver Franco Colapinto stated that he and the team have made some progress in terms of making the driver more comfortable with the car in his bid to extract maximum performance out of A525.

As per Motorsport.com, the 22-year-old said in Hungary about his struggles:

“We've been working hard with the team to understand some of the issues, and I do believe that we've been getting better at some things. It's just that feeling that nothing has been connected or put back together, and that package that we have, it's been maximised at times, but not in some other times.

“I feel there is progress that is being done behind the scenes, it's just that when you don't see it in results it's very tricky to keep pushing, to keep working in the same direction because you don't actually see the results happening. But I do believe that we've been getting better in many areas and that we are still working very well with the team. It's going to come, but it's just taking longer than what I would like.”

Franco Colapinto did not have prior experience driving the 2025 challenger, given that he had replaced Doohan mid-season and had been learning to adapt to the car on the track itself.