Alpine has picked Franco Colapinto to partner Pierre Gasly for the 2026 Formula 1 season, opting against yet another driver switch.
Colapinto initially struggled when he was dropped into what had been Jack Doohan's seat just six races into the season, but his form has since improved, and he's now secured the seat for 2026, fending off reserve driver Paul Aron.
Has Alpine made the right call? Here's what our writers think...
He's hardly the biggest problem
Scott Mitchell-Malm
Colapinto's done a good job since the summer break, and certainly isn't Alpine's biggest problem.
Though he's still missing a normal pre-season and a full campaign, he has enough experience in the car now to be considered familiar with it and, across his Williams cameo and now the Alpine stint, he has at least got a full year of F1 racing under his belt.
With that, despite Alpine's own struggles, Colapinto's ended up looking perfectly fine alongside Gasly, comparing well in qualifying and race head-to-heads mainly since the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August (although actually Hungary just before the break was good too).
There's inevitably still a question mark because, since getting more on top of the car, he has not had the machinery to score points. So whether he can raise his game to the extent Gasly can when the car is capable of more is a question mark. But his best Williams performances show that Colapinto can be a good, effective F1 midfield driver at his best.
Assuming Briatore's correct and Alpine will use new rules and a Mercedes customer engine to vault into podium contention from 2026, there is a very big test of Colapinto just around the corner. But regardless of the questionable circumstances at the start of the year that created the opening for him, Colapinto has done enough to earn the chance.
He's proven that Alpine is not yet driver-limited - it's a lot of other things that have held it back in 2025.
An arrangement that continues to make sense
Ben Anderson
I've always felt that Briatore wanted Colapinto in the car because of the potential to tap into that South American sponsorship. Williams seemed a little surprised by how much hype and interest Colapinto generated when he replaced Logan Sargeant midway through 2024, and it's clear Briatore likes the idea of Alpine carving out a piece of that action.
I think it's why Doohan was dropped at the first available opportunity, and for my money it's also why Briatore recently dangled the possibility of Aron getting the drive for 2026. Briatore probably wants to keep the pressure on Colapinto's sponsors to keep delivering.
So long as the payments keep coming in, and Colapinto doesn't embarrass himself alongside Gasly, there's no reason for Briatore to discontinue the relationship.
Although Gasly has been struggling with what he says was a damaged car until recently, Colapinto has grown with experience inside the team and looked more assured after what by any measure was a very rocky start. So performance-wise, I'd say Colapinto has now reached a perfectly acceptable level. Not stunning, but good enough not to create an obvious reason for separation.
When you add those commercial and sporting elements together, it was probably one of Briatore's easier decisions.
Colapinto's improved enough
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Colapinto's improvement over the course of the season has been drastic, and he now has two separate stretches of putting up a good fight against proven midfield operators: Alex Albon in the initial races at Williams, and now Gasly at Alpine.
Though it may be that Gasly has downed tools because of how much of a write-off 2025 is, to assume so would be disrespectful to Colapinto - and I don't see it as the likeliest explanation anyway.
He will likely finish the season on no points, but given he's playing catch-up all year - after Alpine's woeful handling of Doohan, which burned one driver and risked burning another - he has done enough for Alpine not to start from scratch in 2026 with a different rookie in Aron, who just isn't an obvious upgrade.
And it's been slim pickings in terms of other options anyway. Now, if Alpine is as improved in 2026 with the new regulations and the Mercedes engine as everyone there hopes it will be, then its driver options could get interesting.
But there's certainly no urgency to replace Colapinto, and you want to give him a chance to assert himself with the aid of a proper pre-season and an actual full-campaign commitment.
Money talks
Gary Anderson
I'm pretty sure that, ultimately, this is all about money. Alpine owner Renault seems to be heading for the F1 exit door if it can find someone with the financial power to turn a tidy profit. Why would it stay and use a rival manufacturer's power unit, which is surely a loss of face and expertise that reflects badly on Renault's capabilities?
While there is a financial appeal to Colapinto, he did initially show at Williams that he has the speed. After that, it all went south, and that continued into his early races with Alpine. But he seems to have come through that now, and his performance has stabilised. He's still lacking some performance but, given the Alpine has been consistently the worst car of late, we can only compare him to Gasly.
When both drivers have a clean weekend, which doesn't happen often, then Colapinto has recently measured up decently to him.
Is there anyone else out there with a similar sponsor backing? Probably not. Is there anyone else out there better? Probably. But as we know, money talks.
I would imagine Briatore is hoping that the switch to Mercedes power units next year and an injection of cash from Colapinto's sponsors will allow for a decent rebuilding year. That should make it possible to bag the best offer for the team.
