Williams F1 chief’s comment after Franco Colapinto move speaks volumes for Jack Doohan

Jack Doohan is set to start the season as Pierre Gasly’s team-mate but Alpine’s signing of Franco Colapinto from Williams has put the Australian’s long-term future in real danger

Williams chief has admitted Franco Colapinto has joined Alpine to chase a Formula 1 race seat this year.

Like the rest of the grid, Alpine currently have a full driver line-up for the coming campaign. But Jack Doohan is understood to be under immediate pressure to keep hold of his seat despite having started only one F1 race.

The Australian will start the season on the grid alongside Pierre Gasly. But Alpine have been chasing a deal for Colapinto for some time and, now that they have got their man, there is a ready-made replacement waiting in the wings.

The completion of Colapinto’s move means Williams team principal James Vowles has followed through on his pledge to find a new home for the Argentine. And he has also gained a healthy fee from Alpine which will help fund his work to push his team further up the grid.

And, when commenting on Colapinto’s departure, Vowles also hinted that his former driver could be racing in F1 again very soon. “We believe this agreement with Alpine represents Franco’s best chance of securing a race seat in 2025 or 2026,” he said.

Renault adviser Flavio Briatore, who has a significant say in the Alpine team’s driver decisions, has already made it clear that poor performance will not be tolerated. Doohan’s future is in his own hands as the man currently holding the seat, but the blunt reality is that he needs to hit the ground running in 2025 – or accept that his F1 career will be short-lived.

In truth, not so long ago few would have predicted that the Australian would make it to the grid at all. He did not graduate from Formula 2 and instead spent time simply acting as Alpine reserve driver, giving the feeling that his career had stalled.

But Esteban Ocon was being moved on and so they turned to the man already on the books to fill his place. In Colapinto, though, they now have a driver who caught the eye in his first few F1 appearances and who has a significant South American fanbase behind him, which would provide significant commercial opportunities.

Alpine are cutting costs as they transition from being a works team with their own engine programme to a customer using Mercedes engines from 2026. Increased commercial revenue from Colapinto’s fervent fanbase will be a welcome boost to the coffers at Enstone.

It’s hard to imagine why Colapinto would have agreed to leave Williams for another reserve role at Alpine if he doesn’t, at the very least, believe he has a better shot of getting back onto the F1 grid quicker with his new employer. All signs point to this move being bad news for poor Doohan.