Jack Doohan's hopes of a Formula 1 comeback with Alpine before the end of 2025 have been thwarted as a potential route back in for the final three races has been closed off.
Doohan was dropped by Alpine F1 boss Flavio Briatore after just six races in 2025 and replaced by Franco Colapinto, who Briatore brought into the Alpine fold from Williams over the winter.
Colapinto being signed on a multi-year test and reserve deal last December undermined Doohan immediately and sent him into his first F1 season with intense scrutiny and uncertainty over his position, having only made his debut at the last minute in the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
When the change was finally made in May, it was widely felt as unfair on Doohan and premature given he had little time to make progress.
Alpine originally framed it as an "evaluation" of Colapinto that left the door open to Doohan returning, although Briatore later contradicted this despite being quoted in the original press release.
The notion of an evaluation, and a rotation of the seat, was also communicated to Doohan, who expected him to be put back in the car if Colapinto failed to perform to a high enough level.
But even though Colapinto struggled for several races as lead driver Pierre Gasly scored points three more times, and Colapinto then crashed heavily in a Pirelli test heading into the summer break, Alpine opted against a further driver change.
Only a few races ago, Briatore had suggested Alpine had made "mistakes" with its driver choices, and put too much pressure on Colapinto with the demand of being fast, not crashing, and scoring points.
Colapinto is the only active driver who has not scored a point this season – a mark of Alpine's uncompetitiveness as much as anything else. Doohan, who had three crashes in his six weekends as an Alpine driver but also showed signs of strong underlying pace, is the only other point-less driver of 2025.
But while Colapinto has been trying to secure his seat longer-term, Doohan was given hope he could still race again this year.
The Race understands that Doohan has been told on multiple occasions this side of the summer break that he had chances to regain his seat before the end of the season, eventually with an emphasis on the final three rounds.
This was contingent on securing financial backing for the seat, along with a subjective judgement of how Colapinto would perform.
Doohan was previously a paid Alpine driver during his shortlived stint in the race seat and did not have the drive contingent on financial support.
After having conversations to try to get the seat back, it is understood Doohan's team was able to source enough funding to satisfy Briatore.
However, Colapinto is instead expected to complete the season, with key backer Mercado Libre – which has added branding on the Alpine for the races in the US, Mexico and Brazil - understood to have locked in its financial support for the remainder of the year and Briatore said to be satisfied with Colapinto's progress.
Doohan is still Alpine's reserve driver so could return to a race seat if either Gasly or Colapinto need to miss a grand prix but his focus is on his full-time F1 options.
It is unclear what Alpine will do for 2026, and multiple sources have indicated a decision will be made in November.
Doohan is understood to still consider an Alpine race seat his preferred option for next year, and wants to fight for his place, but Briatore told The Race in September that this decision was boiling down to Colapinto or Alpine reserve Paul Aron – who will drive for Alpine again in FP1 in Mexico.
Doohan has also not been engaged in Alpine's old-car testing programme as expected since being sidelined, with one planned test called off, and his only track running is understood to have been in junior formula cars at his own expense.
Even his simulator support work has been limited at Alpine, and while he is attending races trackside as reserve driver, he is not as involved as would be expected in the role.
This has amounted to Doohan effectively being completely sidelined, despite what was expected to be a rotation of the seat, and such limited opportunities to make his own case – rather than just hope Colapinto's weakens – seem unlikely to change.
It has been intimated to Doohan that Alpine could evaluate more young drivers again next year and the impression for several months has been that Briatore has little or no interest in putting Doohan back in a race seat, forcing the 22-year-old to consider his longer-term options.
Conversations have been had with Cadillac, Williams, Haas and Sauber to explore what positions could be available should Doohan split with Alpine, which would likely keep Doohan on in a test and reserve role at best in 2026.
A similar position would be most likely for Doohan in other teams too, given the driver market is mostly locked for next year, but they might provide a better long-term hope given what has occurred at Alpine.
As for Colapinto, his position as the incumbent driver - plus good backing from Latin America - gives him a big opportunity to claim the seat as his own longer-term.
Upon returning to tracks he drove for at Williams last year, Colapinto has since found more of the form that impressed during his 2024 cameo. Although ironically, when he came closest to the points with a season-best result of 11th at Zandvoort, that was at a track he did not race in F1 at last year.
Though he is still yet to finish in the points, as Alpine's competitive position has only got worse as the year has progressed, after the summer break Colapinto has outqualified and finished ahead of Gasly three times in five events.
He has used his extended stint in the car to build familiarity and confidence having missed pre-season testing and the first six rounds, and made a stronger case to be retained.
However, Gasly was also struggling in his car for a while, which seemed to be rectified when he got a replacement floor at the United States Grand Prix - where he was four tenths of a second faster than Colapinto in qualifying.
Different strategies then helped Colapinto to beat Gasly in the grand prix but only after he "disappointed" Alpine by refusing to follow a team order at the end of the race to hold position when running 18th, directly behind Gasly, as Alpine managed a fuel level concern into the final laps of the race.
"The team situation on Sunday has been discussed internally and it is clear that instructions by the team must always be followed no matter what," Colapinto said in Alpine's Mexican GP preview.
