Paul Aron to replace Franco Colapinto for Alpine F1 practice debut

Paul Aron will be handed his first practice outing for Alpine at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old Estonian, who finished third in last year’s Formula 2 championship, will replace Franco Colapinto during the opening hour of practice at Monza on Friday.

Aron is Alpine’s reserve driver and has had two previous FP1 outings this season with Sauber at the British and Hungarian grands prix.

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He also split running with Colapinto during a Pirelli tyre test at the Hungaroring last month.

Aron will be one of two rookies taking part in first practice at Monza, with Ireland’s Alex Dunne returning to drive for McLaren.

19-year-old Dunne impressed when he finished fourth on his F1 practice bow with McLaren in Austria.

Dunne currently lies fifth in the 2025 F2 championship.

Audition for Paul Aron?

Aron’s outing comes amid uncertainty over Colapinto’s future with Alpine.

Colapinto is yet to score a point since replacing Jack Doohan at Imola.

Recent criticism from Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore placed further doubt on Colapinto’s position.

However, the Argentine enjoyed his strongest weekend of the season as he finished 11th at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Colapinto’s performance drew rare praise from Briatore.

“Starting from outside the points, we took some risks throughout to try and maximise our chances to score,” Briatore said, adding, “with Franco, he drove a very good race, probably his strongest this season so far”.

Colapinto commented: “We were very close to securing some points as a team today. It was a race where we had to be alert and ready to capture any opportunity. I felt I drove well and, at the flag, [scored] my best finish of the season.

“As a team there are some parts of the race we will assess to see what we could have done better. We made a call at the end to pit for softs during the final Safety Car to try and attack cars ahead towards the points. We were very close but just [fell] short at the end.

“There are many positives to take from the weekend. We had an improved performance in Qualifying, I feel more things on my side are coming together and I look forward to returning to Monza next weekend, the venue of my F1 debut last year.”