Colapinto’s Alpine seat under threat as Bottas lead candidate

Former Mercedes and Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas has emerged as a potential replacement for the struggling Franco Colapinto whose Alpine seat is under threat.

Former Mercedes and Sauber driver Valtteri Bottas has emerged as a potential replacement for the struggling Franco Colapinto whose Alpine seat is under threat.

The 10-time Grand Prix winner is apparently high on Alpine’s shortlist of candidates to replace the young Argentinian driver with the French team potentially opting for another in-season change.

Former Williams driver, Colapinto, was signed to the team in early January in the role of Test and Reserve but was quickly promoted – replacing Australian Jack Doohan – from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix onwards.

It was stated in Alpine’s press release, signed by the team’s Executive Advisor and now de-facto Team Principal Flavio Briatore, that Colapinto would be in the car for the “next five races” and that the seat would be “rotated” with “evaluations.”

However, shortly after the press release, Briatore quickly backtracked and admitted that there was no timeline for how long that Colapinto would be kept in the seat and suggested that he would still be there come the end of the season.

The original five-race evaluation ended last weekend in Austria with the team seemingly keeping Colapinto in the seat for the time being, but more pressure is being piled on the Argentinian driver as his performances are not matching the team’s expectations.

It emerged after the conclusion to the Austrian Grand Prix – where Colapinto finished a lapped 15^th after being spun round by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda – that Alpine had enquired, to Mercedes where the Finn is the team’s Test and Reserve driver, about his availability.

Bottas, who drove for Kick Sauber in 2024, returned to his former team after not having his contract renewed at the soon to become Audi F1 Team for 2025, is currently high on many teams’ radars ahead of next season.

New F1 entry, American outfit Cadillac, are heavily rumoured to be interested in his services. Bottas was also the fallback for teams that included Williams and Haas during the majority of last season while Carlos Sainz Jr weighed up his options after being let go by Ferrari for the incoming Lewis Hamilton.

Alpine, who sit last in the Constructors Championship on 11 points which are courtesy of Pierre Gasly, are seriously under-performing compared to pre-season expectations and are seemingly unable to work out how their car is so behind many of it’s rivals.

It’s thought amongst the F1 Paddock that Alpine are considering bringing in an experienced driver, such as Bottas, to aid Gasly’s feedback and to help develop the car.

With neither Doohan nor Colapinto able to match the Frenchman’s pace consistently, it’s also rumoured that the team don’t exactly know if Gasly has been able to extract the most potential out of the car – a quicker driver alongside him would confirm if he is or not.

Alpine also have former F2 driver Paul Aron on their books, along with Kush Maini and Ryo Hirakawa, as Test and Reserve driver with the Estonian the leading candidate should the team feel that putting another young driver in the seat is the best way forward.