12/11/2024
NEWS STORY
The 2025 game of F1 Musical Chairs may yet have a surprise in store as Franco Colapinto is linked with Alpine.
It's fair to say - his Interlagos nightmare aside - that the young Argentine has taken the sport by storm. Scoring points in only his second outing, the youngster has given teammate Alex Albon a run for his money while reviving interest in the sport in south America, bringing a couple of sponsors to Williams with the potential of many more.
However, with Williams line-up for 2025 settled, team boss James Vowles has been trying to find Colapinto a berth elsewhere, and while outwardly there only appears to be a vacancy at RB, behind the scenes there is some frantic rethinking going on.
The Argentine has already been linked with Red Bull as a replacement for Sergio Perez, while Flavio Briatore is now understood to be keen to have the youngster at Alpine alongside Pierre Gasly.
This, of course, would mean that Jack Doohan's career in F1 was over before it had even begun.
Christian Horner has played down the fact that he was seen talking to Vowles in the Williams motorhome in Brazil, while the Italian media insists that Briatore is pursuing Colapinto, not only in terms of his talent but the commercial opportunities he could bring Alpine's way.
On the other hand, though talented, Doohan is bringing little to the table in terms of backing.
Should Colapinto get the gig it would represent a massive blow to Alpine's young driver programme which has already nurtured talent such as Oscar Piastri only to allow it to slip though its fingers.
On the other hand, while some have cited the sponsorship that Perez has brought to Red Bull, other than talent Colapinto might well be in a position to match it, with the likes of Carlos Slim Domit - a keen supporter of the Mexican - thought to be eager to see the Argentine in race-winning machinery.