3rd of June 2024; “Esteban Ocon to leave Alpine at season end”. It hadn’t been unexpected but left more questions up in the air of the already appropriately named silly season. A feud with every teammate he had certainly hadn’t instilled faith in Alpine that he was their best option, and an avoidable crash in Monaco with then teammate and long-time rival, Pierre Gasly, only confirmed that his decision to part with the team was for the best.
Not even three weeks later on June 21st, Flavio Briatore was announced to be making an official return to Formula 1 as Alpine’s new executive advisor. Yes, that man: Flavio Briatore. His shadow loomed larger with every decision. Somehow, some way, the disgraced ex-Renault boss slithered his way back into the sport, and things immediately started going off the rails. Again. Alpine called it “fresh leadership.” Everyone else called it what it was – chaos. Dodged that bullet nicely, Esteban.
2 months later, on August 23rd, Jack Doohan who had been waiting in the wings as Alpine’s primary reserve driver since 2023 finally got his chance, confirming long held suspicions that he would partner Pierre Gasly in Alpine in 2025. We all thought this would be the end of the noise from Alpine. 5 frenzy filled years of crashes, tractors of cars, major staff changes, and losing their future world champion in what was the greatest F1 tweet to ever be put out. But behold, time continues to prove that the French can still surprise us.
The final blow came earlier than expected. Just ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon was released early from his contract with Alpine in order to conduct post season testing with Haas. So, instead of ending the year in a team he gave their only win to, Jack Doohan was given the seat for the final round of the 2024 season. It was portrayed as a symbolic shift. The kid had waited for 2 years, showed up to every track, every media day, every debrief – and now, with one race to go, he finally got to do more than sip water on the pit wall. A new era, right? Well…
The “new era” quickly turned into a confused HR spreadsheet, as Alpine then began signing reserve drivers like they were collecting Pokémon. Paul Aron, Kush Maini, Ryo Hirakawa (who has now defected to Haas), and the most notorious of them all, Franco Colapinto.
Franco became a crowd favorite last year when he came at us like a torpedo. 12th in his first race at Monza and flirting with any interviewer who crossed his path. It seems the fans weren’t the only ones who were impressed, as multiple teams met with him with the hopes that Williams would release him for 2025, since they had no seat to offer.
And then the world found out. Jack’s contract? Apparently, it wasn’t for the full season. Just five races. Five. Five races to prove yourself in a team barely held together by duct tape and French stubbornness. As if a driver’s talent could be properly measured in the same time it takes Netflix to film a new episode of Drive to Survive. But sure, Jack, no pressure – your entire career depends on whether the Alpine doesn’t explode or decide it wants to mow the lawn between lights out and lap 30. It felt like Alpine themselves weren’t sure if Jack was the future they spoke of or just a placeholder.
Jack’s Formula 1 debut was supposed to the realization of years of grinding through junior categories, but instead, it played out like a lesson in Murphy’s law. First came Melbourne – home race, big moment, big mistake with a DNF that set a troubling tone for his campaign. Suzuka was worse. A terrifying 300km/hr crash is FP2 that was attributed to a misjudgment by the rookie after not closing his DRS. Then came Miami. First lap, turn 1, Liam Lawson, bang. Out. In just six rounds, the optimism around Jack had morphed into anxiety, with whispers of Alpine already having given up. Brutal, but not surprising.
On May 6th, 2025, Alpine announced that Team Principal Oliver Oakes had resigned with immediate effect. This came just days after Oakes’ brother was charged by UK police with transferring criminal property – something Alpine refused to publicly link, but the timing wrote its own story. Oakes had only joined Alpine in July 2024, and while he oversaw a brief late season rise, it couldn’t save the tumultuous start to 2025. Alongside the news, Alpine confirmed Flavio would be taking over Oakes’s duties within the team, because nothing screams calm and rational decision making like giving even more power to the man who brought us Crashgate.
So, with a swap that would make Helmut Marko proud, on May 7th, Alpine announced that Franco Colapinto would race at least the next five rounds in place of Jack Doohan. The team describes the move as “rotation” of the race seat, aiming to evaluate different driver options. And just like that, the Jack Doohan era was seemingly over before it began. It didn’t feel fair. It didn’t feel right. But it felt very Alpine. Five years of chaos, capped off by a driver program that looked more like a lottery draw than a developmental pathway. Whatever vision Alpine once had, it was now thoroughly blurred.
And perhaps the worst part of it all? Flavio Briatore is Jack Doohan’s manager. The man holding the keys to the Alpine Kingdom, the one meant to advocate for Jack, is now the one who may have just cost him everything.
And this brings us to the question no one has been brave enough to answer yet; what this means for Jack. While announced that he will go back to being Alpine’s full time reserve driver, that title now feels like the bitter air in a hospital waiting room. Still forced to attend races, still forced to do sim work, and still forced to show up to media events with professionalism, but not being able to get in what he finally thought was his car. You can’t help but think his shot at a full-time seat is gone. No promises can be made, and time moves too quickly in Formula 1 to reflect and mourn, he simply has to get back to work for a team that allowed his life to be threatened with no care and pray that Pierre or Franco get ill for a weekend.
All eyes are now on Franco. His stint in Williams last year was promising but Alpine is no easy gig. It’s not just a test of talent, but of survival. So how will Franco fare? That’s the million-dollar question. He has the charisma, the speed, and the guts to make a real name for himself. But he’s been thrown into the same mess Jack was – one where consistency is a joke and long-term planning is whatever Flavio decides on a Monday.
And if Franco doesn’t deliver? What then? Another round of musical chairs? Another “fresh start”? Alpine’s strategy is best described as “chaos theory with a French accent.” They’ve shown time and time again that their instability is now a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Flavio’s return was never going to be a feel-good redemption story. The man whose career legacy is a Venn diagram of controversy and yachts is back at center of decisions that affect the future of actual, talented, hardworking drivers. Say what you want about spectacle, but under him, Alpine feels less like a race team and more like a mafia-run talent agency. Formula 1 deserves better, and so do the kids who dedicate their lives to getting there.
My greatest takeaway from this is that young drivers should give up. What is the point of pushing yourself to the edge for years, moving across the world as a kid, spending infinite amounts of money that most don’t have, all to reach Formula 1 and to not be given a real chance. 6 races is not enough. 5 races is not enough. Young drivers can’t be expected to “prove themselves” if they aren’t given a proper chance to do so.
And once again for the people in the back; Screw Flavio Briatore.
Checkered Lines 
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