F1 team told to sack driver on the spot after worrying error behind closed doors

Alpine should use the summer break to make a driver line-up change and remove Franco Colapinto from his seat, according to Express Sport readers. The Argentine starlet has been under pressure this season since replacing Jack Doohan early in the campaign. Team Enstone spent big to bring Colapinto in from Williams over the winter, with the 22-year-old initially taking up a reserve driver role.

However, after a challenging first six races in 2025, Doohan was ousted from the line-up, and the Pilar-born racer was drafted in on a five-race deal. Eight Grands Prix later, he remains in the cockpit, but it hasn't been smooth sailing for Colapinto. He has a best finish of 13th from those starts with no points to show for his efforts. In this period, team-mate Pierre Gasly has recorded three top-10 finishes, including a P6 in wet conditions at Silverstone.

Things got worse for Colapinto at the start of the summer break. During a Pirelli tyre test at the Hungaroring, he suffered a high-speed crash and was taken to the medical centre. According to Express Sport readers, this should be the final straw for the 22-year-old.

In a survey of 3,000 readers, 56 per cent voted in favour of dropping Colapinto, with only 44 per cent backing the Argentine racer to resurrect his Alpine career. If Flavio Briatore's squad were to execute a change, Valtteri Bottas and Paul Aron would be the leading contenders to step in for the remaining 10 races.

However, according to a report from PlanetF1, there are no immediate plans to drop Colapinto, despite his results offering little improvement on Doohan's. Alpine bosses believe in his talent, and there is still a chance he could partner Gasly in the team's 2026 line-up, provided his performances improve.

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To regain the confidence of his team, Colapinto will be desperate to resume the season strong in Zandvoort. He finished 19th in Spa and 18th in Hungary in the recent double-header, although his qualifying performance in Belgium was at least a step in the right direction.

However, asked if that showing gave him confidence about his future, he replied: "No, not really. I think the best part is that after Imola, it's the first time that I find some consistency with the car, and I feel a bit more generally better through a corner and entry phases.

"I was struggling quite a lot. They do feel a lot better, which is, of course, a good step in the right direction. But yeah, we do need more work and show more performance."