Financial reasons behind Franco Colapinto's Alpine F1 promotion emerge

Franco Colapinto is said to bring “significant financial backing” to Alpine following his return to the F1 grid.

The 21-year-old Argentinian has secured an F1 comeback with Alpine as part of a five-race agreement after the team decided to drop Jack Doohan following the Miami Grand Prix.

Doohan has been ejected from his race seat after failing to score a point during the opening six rounds of the season, while teammate Pierre Gasly had racked up seven during the same timeframe.

Finance incentive for Alpine to pick Franco Colapinto

It has emerged that Colapinto’s “significant financial backing” was one of the factors taken into account by Alpine when making their brutal call to axe Doohan.

F1.com's Lawrence Barretto reports there is “scope for that support to increase now he has been promoted to a race seat”.

“He also brings starpower as well as a huge, passionate and engaged fanbase, having starred for Williams and become a national hero in his home country of Argentina,” Barretto added.

“His impact was such that he is considered the nation's current second biggest sporting star behind footballing legend Lionel Messi.”

Colapinto starred during a nine-race cameo for Williams at the end of 2024 having been parachuted in as a replacement for the underperforming Logan Sargeant.

He scored points in his second race in Azerbaijan and finished inside the top-10 again at Austin, though Colapinto also suffered a spate of heavy crashes during his brief spell at Williams.

Colapinto caught the eye of rival teams and Alpine swooped to secure his signature as a reserve driver in January.

He is highly-rated by Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore, who has become the French squad’s de facto team boss following Oliver Oakes’ shock resignation on Tuesday.

Colapinto will get five races to impress Alpine ahead of what the team have described as being a “new evaluation” before the British Grand Prix in July.

"Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races,” Briatore explained.

"With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up. We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year.

"We continue to support Jack as the team, as he has acted in a very professional manner in his role as a race driver so far this season. The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options."