Oliver Oakes responds to keyboard warriors about Alpine taking in Franco Colapinto as F1 reserve to put extra pressure on Jack Doohan.
Already during the latter part of 2024 F1 season, there were rumours about Alpine taking in Colapinto from Williams and replacing him with Doohan before even the Australian get to make his debut. The speculation linked him to Doohan’s seat in 2025.
Doohan eventually made his F1 debut in Abu Dhabi in place of Esteban Ocon and is set to start the 2025 season as well. But Alpine has gone ahead with their plans to secure Colapinto from Williams as their reserve, which generated memes and even prediction that the Australian will be dropped eventually.
The social media has been talking largely about Doohan being put under extreme pressure and if he doesn’t perform in the first few races, Alpine will replace him with Colapinto. The Argentine is one of the three reserves alongside Ryo Hirakawa and Paul Aron – all hired just ahead of 2025.
Team principal Oakes has defended the call to take Colapinto, while responding to the keyboard warriors as well. The idea is not pile on the pressure but for Alpine to have options at hand for their future course. “It’s been a little bit harsh on Jack, some of the stuff that was written by the keyboard warriors there, and he’s getting his fair crack at it next year,” he said in a podcast with James Allen.
“And I think the intention there isn’t to put [pressure] on his shoulders. It’s genuinely to give the team options further down the line. And for me F1 is fine margins. There’s a load of people who are depending on a driver to deliver each weekend, and we need to make sure we’ve got the best drivers in the race car, not just now, but also in the future.
“It’s always hard to calculate that but, I think if you peel it all back, the number one thing for me there was he’s done a weekend, that he knows what to expect. When we get to Australia it’s a big home race for him – I dare say it takes away a little bit of the rawness of the emotion he’s going to go through. And for the team it just makes that settling in process slightly easier.
“We got a bit of stick publicly for that, dropping him in and letting Esteban go early, but it was as straightforward as it just made complete sense for the team. At the end of the day we want to give Jack the best chance to perform, and he did a solid job in Abu Dhabi. He did a good job, he kept his nose clean. I think it will be a big help.
“At the end of the day, it will still be what it will be, because motorsport’s like that; with all the preparation in the world, they’ll be something that can still catch you out,” summed up Oakes, who then noted about Alpine thinking not just about 2025 but beyond that by having two youngsters as their reserve. “I think Franco made a great first impression with Williams,” he said.
“I think it was clear to see that he probably tried a bit too hard at the end there. How much of that was the situation he was in, where he didn’t have a seat confirmed and was trying to over-impress, and how much of that was a compromise on parts on the car, that’s hard to calculate. But I think the crux is he made a strong impression with the speed he showed.
“For us as a team it’s great to have that roster of two young drivers in Paul and Franco there waiting in the wings, because it’s not just about 2025; 2026, 2027 is around the corner, and it’s hard in F1 to plan what’s going to happen and what drivers you’re going to have to go in the car. For us, it just keeps everyone honest in terms of how they’re performing and gives us options,” summed up Oakes.
Here’s Oliver Oakes on choosing Mercedes
Here’s Pierre Gasly on Alpine’s new structure
Here’s Oliver Oakes on Paul Aron, Victor Martins
Here’s Alpine signing Franco Colapinto
Here’s Alpine securing Ryo Hirakawa
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