What Franco Colapinto said after replacing Jack Doohan at Alpine for 5 races

Franco Colapinto let his feelings known after Alpine decided to put him in the French team alongside Pierre Gasly for the next five races. This has come after the Enstone-based team removed Jack Doohan from duty and brought reserve driver Colapinto back from sabbatical.

After just six races, Alpine decided to drop Doohan, mainly due to performance reasons. Doohan, who has been a shining star in F2 in recent times, received his Alpine call after Esteban Ocon moved to Haas at the end of this season.

Even though expectations were less on Doohan, as per paddock chatters, he delivered only a little. The Australian driver is yet to score a point despite participating in six races and two sprints. Compared to him, his teammate, Gasly, has seven points.

In addition to this, Doohan never finished a race above P15, and faced two DNFs, which made him the second least performing driver after Gabriel Bortoleto. As a result, the French team decided to bring Franco Colapinto, a driver who has quite an experience with F1 machinery.

“Firstly, I want to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to drive competitively for the next five races," Colapinto said as per PitDebrief. "I will work hard with the team to prepare for the next race in Imola and the upcoming triple-header, which will no doubt be intense and a big challenge for everyone."

“I have stayed sharp, and I am as ready as possible with the team’s race support testing programme, as well as on the simulator at Enstone; I will do my best to get up to speed quickly and give it my all to deliver the best possible results alongside Pierre," he further added.

Colapinto, the Argentine F1 driver, raced with Williams in 2024 after the British team dropped Logan Sargeant midway through the season. He participated in nine races for the Dorilton Capital-owned team alongside Alex Albon and scored five points.

However, Franco Colapinto lost his seat after the James Vowles-led team signed Carlos Sainz from Ferrari this season. Colapinto will be starting for Alpine from the upcoming Emilia Romagna GP, and is expected to race for them till the British GP.

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Jack Doohan after getting replaced by Franco Colapinto: "Will keep my head down"

Jack Doohan shared his thoughts after Alpine dropped him in favor of Franco Colapinto. Accepting the team's decision, the Australian driver affirmed to work to get better and come back stronger.

Jack Doohan of Australia and Alpine F1 - Source: Getty

Here's what he said:

"This latest chapter is a tough one for me to take because, as a professional driver, naturally I want to be racing. For now, I will keep my head down, keep working hard, watch with interest the next five races and keep chasing my own personal goals.”

After six races and two Sprints, Alpine is in P9 of the Constructors' Championship with seven points. They are just ahead of Kick Sauber, who was in P10 with six points.