Alpine have three “obvious” choices for 2026 F1 driver line-up

Alpine will have to pick between their three F1 junior drivers as they continue to weigh up their options for 2026.

Alpine and Mercedes are the only teams on the F1 grid that haven’t decided on their driver line-up for next year.

Alpine announced that Pierre Gasly had signed a new contract until 2027 during the Italian Grand Prix weekend.

However, they’ve yet to decide who his teammate will be.

There are two seats still open at Mercedes, but Toto Wolff has insisted George Russell will remain alongside Kimi Antonelli for 2026.

According to veteran BBC F1 journalist Andrew Benson, Alpine have three options.

Franco Colapinto is in the frame to keep his seat, and he’s shown signs of improvement recently. 

Jack Doohan and Paul Aron are also options.

Benson wrote: “Alpine have three obvious options for their second seat alongside Pierre Gasly next year - Franco Colapinto, and reserve drivers Jack Doohan and Paul Aron.

“Australian Doohan started the year in the car, but was replaced by Argentine Colapinto after six races this year.

“Executive adviser – and de facto team boss – Flavio Briatore was clearly not that impressed by Doohan, and he does not seem to have been overly enamoured of Colapinto’s efforts since he took over, either.

“There are signs of progress from Colapinto – he has out-qualified Gasly in two of the past three races. As for Estonian Aron, he was quick in Formula 2, and is said to have looked good in testing.

“The feeling is that Alpine would prefer a driver with experience, hence the interest in Bottas. But now there is no one obvious available.

“Of the unproven talents, perhaps the most exciting at the moment is Irishman Alex Dunne, who has been very quick in his first season of F2 this year. But Dunne is under contract to McLaren, who rate him highly.”

What about Tsunoda?

If Alpine want experience, then they could turn to Yuki Tsunoda.

Tsunoda is set to be replaced at Red Bull next year by Isack Hadjar.

This leaves Tsunoda’s future in F1 uncertain.

The Japanese driver is unlikely to return to Racing Bulls, having spent four seasons there already.

Despite another tough race at Monza, Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies defended Tsunoda.

“Today’s race for Yuki is difficult to read, because of the traffic in the first stint, damage in the second stint.

“But I look at qualifying, I still qualify it as a good weekend. He was two tenths from Max in Q1. Max was not exactly slow this weekend and with a small deficit from the car, he was two tenths from Max in Q2,” Mekies explained.

“There is no doubt everybody is pushing 100 per cent in Q2, and yes, the gap was bigger in Q3, but first he put the car in Q3, which is a very good performance, and second, he was first on the road in Q3. It didn’t help as well.

“I think short run pace was a very good sample for Yuki, long run pace, it’s frustrating not to have a clean race day.”