P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our reaction to Franco Colapinto REPLACING Jack Doohan at Alpine

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

This week’s worst kept secret has finally been confirmed: Franco Colapinto will replace Jack Doohan at Alpine. We disagree about whether it was the right decision and ask how Franco might fare under a controversial new Alpine boss, as Flavio Briatore takes over from Oliver Oakes.You can listen to an extended version of every Race Review podcast this season over on our Patreon! Sign up to also get every P1 episode ad-free, early access to live tickets and merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to an emergency P1 podcast. That's right. We've got news and when we've got news, we go with a pod. I was going to say go live. We're not live, Tommy. We're in the past now as this is being listened to by people. But welcome once again. And it's a bit of news that we could sense was coming.

The rumour mill, I mean the rumour mill had started before lap one of the Australian Grand Prix. But it started to accelerate, didn't it, Tommy, in the last few days. then we had some news away from this, that Oli Oli Oaks is resigning or has resigned and Flavio Brio Tori is taking over and then boom, this news. Indeed, yeah, it's as is a lot of the case in Formula One now, they're always the worst kept secret.

We always hear about it a couple of days before and from the sound of it, yeah, Jack Dewin was told about the fact that he was going to be replaced pretty much at Miami, I think, I believe straight after the race, which of course he DNFed in. As every Alpine driver, I saw something crazy that every Alpine driver that's left Alpine DNFed in the last race, which is quite a bizarre thing to happen.

It's almost like they're a chaotic team. Goodness, what a record that is. That's the second driver now that's been dropped in six race weekends. If we continue on this form, we'll have eight gone by the end of the year. So hopefully not for the sake of people's Formula One careers and giving them a little bit of time. And our championship table of 1 to 20 when it ends up being 1 to 40. Well, we did say, didn't we? Maybe we need to put in a few drivers, we think.

But it's quite difficult to keep on top of all of this. Let's get into a first question from P1 Patreon member, RNB sheep. Is this decision correct? It's not like Dewan has been destroyed by GASley. Is this decision correct? Is any Formula 1 decision correct? It's not usually based on purely performance. This, for me, felt like the timeline was just a little bit off for Dewan and for Colopinto in the sense of when seats were filled or contracts were signed, i.e. the contract for Jack Dewan to race for Alpine this season.

I believe was around the time or just a little bit earlier than when Colapinto and maybe the Red Bull things fell through and essentially Colapinto became available. to which then Alpine, of course, sees an opportunity, signs him as a reserve driver for five years, and you think, I don't, I don't think that, I don't, there's something there. I'm reading between the lines. But anyway, back to it being the correct decision or not. For me, it is harsh.

But I guess the blow has been slightly softened in the fact, for Formula One fans anyway, we saw this coming, we saw this coming from, before the season had even begun. But on a human level and on a driver level, to be honest with you, I think it is a rash decision. It's an aggressive one. It's an Alpine one.

Dewan deserved more time. He had shown glimpses of promise. The start to his rookie season absolutely was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I would say he was having a relatively poor start to his career. but then you pick it up and you continue to learn. He outqualified Gasly in Miami. There were moments of, oh, okay, then. But now it's gone.

It's done. Well, we might have another one of our rare disagreements here because, of course, I'll start off with saying, yeah, of course, as a human being, I feel, you know, sorry for doing. You don't like to see drivers lose their seat and people, you know, lose their job. And it would have been a dream for him to race. Formula One. But to answer the question, is this decision correct? I am 100% yes on this. It definitely

is the right decision. I think it's a myth that Dewan has been all right and on Gassley's pace. I think he's comfortably been the worst driver along with Liam Lawson this season. If you look into it, you know, he's crashed lap one of Australia. Collided in the sprint. his qualifying has been poor of course he failed to close DRS as well in Suzuki which was a high profile crash he's not scored any points he is the

worst driver in qualifying compared to their teammate apart from the second red bull driver so you know from a human level yes but at the end of the day I don't think Dewan I think Dewan's form is bad enough for him to have been replaced

anyway and yes it's savage and there's another alpine decision that i um disagree with a lot more and i'm more angry about uh than this one um but i think it is is the right decision personally all right let's lock horns let's do it there's no way there's no way in hell after six race weekends that is the correct decision i'm sorry no it is you've got to give at least half a season all right should we talk about the other rookies should we talk about the other rookies I mean, you're talking about, no, before we do that. Okay. And I do enjoy the fact that some Spotify comments I've read as like

mum and dad fighting when we disagree. It's good. But this is the year of the disagreement, apparently. You're talking about bringing colapinto in that had heavy crashes. Let's not talk about Colopinto, yeah. Let's talk about do and being replaced first. Then we'll go into Colapinto. I feel like there's context there.

Yeah, but the questions are about Colapinto later, but doing being replaced. I mean, surely the part of. Do you think Dewin should have stayed in Formula One past six races? I believe he deserved an opportunity to showcase what he could do. And there were at least moments, as I said, where I went, okay, actually, he's got some decent pace. Yeah, I completely agree that he has been one of the worst rookies, for sure. It's been the worst rookie, not one of the worst rookie. Okay, but you're put in as a rookie.

Lawson's not, anyway. It's lost in a rookie. Back then, you know. You keep throwing me off my trail, Tommy. I'm trying to construct an argument here. Okay. Go on, Your Honor. Go.

It's going to get really riled up. Look, I think I'm seeing it more from a sympathetic element, which I know Formula One isn't. But if this is now the trend that Formula One is setting, that if you don't deliver in six races as a rookie, you're out, I'm not a fan of that in the slightest. And that's why I lean towards the decision not being correct until at least the midpoint of the season,

to give these drivers who have worked so hard to get to this point, secure sponsorship, etc, etc. Like, the whole thing this has happened, the whole reason this has happened is because Alpine and the whole timeline just didn't go correctly, but I don't think Do-in should be able to that. Oh, I agree with that. Because of this mess that Alpine was in

because they've clearly promised lots of things to Colopinto. You're getting this, that and the other. You're signed for this amount of years, and Colapinto is a separate discussion in terms of whether he deserves to be there, of course. but I think it's too soon and maybe this is the kind of feeling now that Formula One is going to be like

that the Red Bull DNA is now being spread to other teams. I guess my argument from that side is you look at the other rookies and I'd argue you know they'll of course be which I think is fair to some extent that Dewan's had a lot of pressure on him

from day dot and maybe that makes it more difficult to perform but at the end of the day it is elite sport. Formula One is a high pressure environment. And you look at two other rookies as an example. Isaac Hadjar has been very impressive. He is in that Red Bull stable who, you know, they've already replaced one Formula One driver in two races. So he knows that he has to perform otherwise he's out.

And equally, Antonelli has replaced literally Lewis Hamilton and is one of the top teams. And he's doing a great job as well. So I do feel sympathetic on. a human level, but Formula One should also be, you know, the best drivers in the sport. And I just, and maybe this leads on to the next question, because I don't think Duin should have been signed in the first place. And I do agree with you that that is why this mess has appeared, basically. Next question, P.1 on picture, remember Alec then? Why such a short proving time for doing? Why sign him at all in this case? Well,

Alpine, no one wanted to drive for Alpine. Everyone sort of deserted them. They had a reasonable roster, didn't they? And then they all decided to leave. Of course, the big one in that whole roster was, of course, Piastri that turned his back and went to an underdog team in McLaren. And it's not really performed too much too well since then. But yeah, I think it kind of comes back to what I was saying with the timeline of it. They've clearly seen the worth of Colapinto.

Of course, there were some promising signs when he was driving at Williams, but also has an insane backing. I'm sure brings a lot of sponsorship as well. So it was, and I hope for doing's sake, considering Flavio Briatore is supposedly his manager, that this was a story that was clear to do and when being signed, that your time is not guaranteed.

Because if they've given him false promises, then again, I'm not a fan of that, but this is just speculation. but that's the reason why he was signed is because they didn't really have anyone else to put in the seat. They did not. I think we did some, when we initially

were talking, I want to say, pre-season and the Colapinto news was announced and we kind of spoke about it a little bit. We did a bit of investigating, didn't we? And Jack Dewan was essentially signed before Colapinto had even replaced Logan Sargent.

And then, of course, Colapinto came into the sport. He did a great job. We got a lot of hype around it. him and yeah, but they'd already locked in Dewan. And then, yeah, I think the key thing here is that Alpine rushed the decision in the first place because they're a messy team. They fell out with Ocon, another driver, you know, they're losing people left, right and

center, no other team just seems to be just losing as many people as Alpine do. But yeah, the relationship with Ocon broke down. And then they wanted to get rid of them and maybe it was a sense of pride of like, oh, well, we need to lock in someone quick. So it's not embarrassing that, you know, we don't have a driver for next season. And as they were doing that was a time where Alpine were absolutely useless as well and probably one of the worst teams on the grid. Then you go to the end of the year.

And actually, you know, Gassley was putting in these amazing performances and finishing P5 and qualifying in, you know, P5 and stuff. And I think if they'd have just waited till there, they could assign someone better and more more suitable for the role because I don't think Dewan was the right choice because at the end of the day you know we're talking about we mentioned about like Logan Sargent previously and how they kind of rushed him in and Williams have now got you know focused on getting two great drivers in and they are reaping the rewards of that now so yeah unfortunately for doing it's just he wasn't the right choice in the first place

I don't think. Sad times. Sad times for doing. Next question. People on Patreon member, Hazer. Will Colopinto cause more crashes than doing as we saw last year with Williams? Now, I obviously did a little bit of a mention to that earlier.

Of course, Colopinto had moments of brilliance right from the get-go. And then moments of crashing a lot. And in my opinion, those crashing a lot towards the end of the year, very much closed the door at any Red Bull opportunity. that Franco had maybe entered discussions around. Who knows? We know he's crash happy. He does make mistakes.

He's a young driver. He's a rookie driver, technically, I guess, still, because he hasn't done a full season. So could you see it as a like for like? I see more potential, obviously, with Colopinto because we saw a little bit of that last year. And obviously, let's not forget,

this is not a full-time, supposed full-time securing of Colopinto. This is a five-race deal. Crazy, isn't it? Until we get someone else in. Mick Schumacher, maybe, Rio Hira-Kawa, Paul Aaron. Just get them all in. Just a revolving door and let's see who's the best.

Let's not give them any more than five races to settle into Formula One and potentially get better. If you're not good in five, get out. So that's really a really healthy environment for drivers, for sure. But it's obviously it's intriguing from a Formula One fan's perspective. to see Colopinto go in. How will he stack up against Gasly? Will it be better than doing straight out the blocks? But then you have to take into account all of the context of he's not done preseason testing

in this car. He's not really driven this car at all. And he's thrust into Imola, has even driven around there before. Probably not. So a lot of things that you then have to then give him some leeway when he's coming into this seat. Yeah, exactly. I mean, Colapinto, I think maybe a little unfairly.

has the reputation of being, you know, a crasher. Brazil was definitely a really poor moment after how well he did, a crazy race where a lot of people crashed out. The Vegas one definitely was, I think, the biggest disappointment one for him. And then, you know, the final race, it wasn't his fault that he got crushed into at term one and didn't really get to, it kind of, it's a shame how it kind of petered out that moment because Colapinta. came in and showed potential and I think

you know Duhin's crashed a lot but he's not he's not shown kind of great pace as well occasionally like you know he outqualified Gasley for example but not enough I don't think whereas Colapinto came in with no preseason testing and he did a great

job alongside Alex Albon who is now driving brilliantly and probably one of the drivers of the season so I do think Colapinto deserves an opportunity based on what he did last year it was a big shame that he didn't get a drive going to next season. But again, we go back to, you probably would have if Alpine hadn't jumped the gun

and tried to lock someone into a seat really quickly because, you know, we've shown that other teams were kind of waiting and waiting to see how the dominoes kind of played out because, of course, it was such a chaotic driver situation last year. And clearly Alpine should have waited because I think Colapinto should have been in the car from the start personally. Yeah, I have to agree with that. If they were to be chosen and picked from at the beginning, you'd pick Colopinto every single day of the week. Because doing his sort of junior career wasn't anything to suggest that he was the next George Russell, LeClaue, whatever.

So, yeah, I have to agree with that one. P1PATRIM member Becker asks, what does Colapinto need to do to be? considered a success at Alping. Not been the car constantly. That's number one, I would say. And Doan, of course, has been involved in crashes and has also been involved in picking up penalties, having sort of clumsy sticking a nose in. Of course, last time out in Miami, but also in China, I think, as well, picked up penalties.

So just, I think, keeping it clean, using these first few races to learn. But we've already seen from Colapinto jumping into the Williams that he has got, hopefully, for his sake, the adaptability to be able to be on the pace pretty quickly. But Alpine is such a pressure cooker environment, very similar to Red Bull now. I know that Red Bull is deemed the overlords of pressure cooker environments, but I think Alpine is right up there now, if not slightly worse, with the fact he's been signed for five races. So you've kind of got on one end, learn, don't crash,

but also you've got five races to prove that you're as fast as Pierre Gasly, probably. It's a hard job for Franco, but if he can just be two, three-tenths off Gassley in qualifying, finish no more than 15, 20 seconds behind his teammate in the first couple of races, I think that has to be deemed a success considering all of the factors that we mentioned earlier. Yeah, I think just a little bit quicker than doing and not having these silly, clumsy accidents and riding the car off and it'll be absolutely fine. I think in time they'll want him to, you know, challenge Gassley a lot more, but I think he does have, you know, pressure off from that side that I don't think it's a case of like, you have to beat Pierre

Gasley. And I do think Gassley, you know, can be beatable, of course, as well. So, you know, it's a target for Colipinto, but it's not something he needs to go into the first race and be like, oh, I need to absolutely, you know, send it on my first qualifying lap and try and try and beat Gazley, he just needs to ease himself in. I thought one-five is capable of that, though. I'm kind of thinking.

Exactly. Yeah. Can they really rein it in? I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, he's qualifying at the back, and that's mainly because I don't think Alpine going to be very good around Imlera and also, you know,

they don't look particularly great this season. But I don't think, you know, if Frankicolor Pinta even qualifies P20 in the, thing. I don't think it's a complete disaster and you'd be like, get him out. Because it's more about just keeping it clean and having those five races to learn and find your feet again. And we know he can impress because we saw it against Album when he came in. Yeah, P20 wouldn't be a complete disaster considering I think Gazley was 18th in Miami for the main race.

There's not a lot of pace to unlock in that Alpine. So I wouldn't be surprised if he's last. and hopefully he's not mounted on with pressure unless he's a second off the back then we can maybe talk about it. Next question, people picture remember, Acadian 175. Is there any future in F1 left for doing? No, I don't think so.

He's going to be a reserve. Yeah, he's the reserve at Alpine. Will he be drafted back in when the data suggests? Has he done enough to get to go back in? Yeah, I would say no. If Colopinto is worse, do they then, I mean, I cannot see for the life of them. I think if Colopinto's worse, they wouldn't even put Doem back in.

Exactly. Or they would just commit to Colopinto considering all the things he brings outside of driving as well. But no, I don't think so, sadly. But what we kind of reflect on is that in some ways he should feel slightly happy about the fact that he got a drive. And I think we said that right to the start of the season. But if you, if you, if you, You take all the kind of, yeah, I know you want to be in Formula One and everyone wants to be the best. But and it does sound really, really harsh.

But I think doing having been a Formula One driver, he kind of was right place, right time when to get that Alpin seat in the first place, wasn't it? Let's be honest. Yeah. So I hope, obviously, he won't right now, but in the future, should he not get another Formula One opportunity, he at least can appreciate that he did. did get a Formula One seat and yeah and kind of has some positive memories about it. Now before we go and say goodbye, we've got one more thing to mention, which is of course, Olly Oaks leaving as Alpine team principal and Flavio Brio Tori taking the role, the man that 17 years ago was banned from the sport for cheating due to the biggest scale.

scandal in Formula One history, Crashgate. If you are unaware, too long didn't read, is the fact that they essentially ordered the teammate Nelson P.K. Jr. to slam into the wall to help Alonzo with a well-time safety car. And they were found guilty of it. Flavio thrown out the sport. That was then overturned. God, he's got some good lawyers.

And I believe Tommy, we can all just sit back and enjoy what you're about to say on this situation. Oh, okay. I mean, it's an absolute joke, the fact that he's allowed to be in Formula One. He shouldn't even be being interviewed on Martin Brundel's Gridwalk, never mind a team, principle of a Formula One team. You know, he should, I've had the pleasure of trying to get in the paddock with the wrong pass, and it goes, and that is exactly what should happen with Flavio Brio Tori's

paddock pass when he tries to get in. because it's a lifetime ban. It's the worst thing that's ever happened in the sport in terms of ordering someone to crash, putting lives in danger for marshals, the driver themselves, people in the crowd with flying debris. That should never have been allowed to happen. And the consequence was a fair one in that you lifetime ban the people that are involved. And 17 years later, you know, they've kept the win. and the guy that got the lifetime ban is back as team principal of that team is absolutely disgusting.

Now, it is interesting the wording of how they've sort of announced Flavio going into this role. And I feel like they're trying to avoid negative press by actually saying that he's becoming team principal because they haven't. They've said he's taking over the duties of Oliver Oaks, who has now resigned. And I feel like he's still executive advisor as the actual name of it. It's just a load of sort of corporate BS, isn't it? The way they've obviously tried to bring him back. Now, there's no denying that he's got a lot of talent and brains does Flavio, because he led Renaud to amazing victories and stuff like that.

But this is a cloud that cannot be, cannot dissipate over the top of his head, in my opinion. And I think a lot of people in Formula One, a lot of Formula One fans that watched back, then know the severity of what he did. And I think a lot of people are questioning how on earth is this happening and being allowed to happen. So I'm not surprised that. Starts with M, ends in honey. Oh.

I was trying to think of a funny word that might be something else other than money. But yeah, I can. Impressive. I really enjoyed that. Yeah. So I am of similar opinion that I can't believe he's back in as essentially team principal. And Formula One really needs to have a long, hard look at themselves because this shouldn't be allowed to happen. Now, also, something that's worth mentioning and more around the sort of Alpine infrastructure

and their decision making when it comes to team principals. So from 2020, bearing in mind we're in 2025 right now, they have had as team principal Cyril Lebitbel Marchen is it Martian Budkowski is that he said Marsan

Lauren Rossi Otmasafnauer Bruno Faman Oli Oli Oaks and now Flavio Briatori that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

17 principles since 2020 that is just scapegoat city if I've ever seen it and that's not even taking into account the other mess

of you know Alan Prost left didn't he and basically slandered them from his kind of advisory role. You've had, you know, Oscar Piastri with the most crazy and public kind of embarrassment of a driver decision for Alpine to say that, you know, I'm not driving for you goodbye. Fernando Alonzo leaving.

Esteban Okon deciding he wanted to leave for the last race because they let him race for Hass. We all know that's a load of BS now. and yeah it's a mess. Yeah, they are in a mess and it's just. And of course, as well, you know, they're not even building their own engines anymore. They're going to have Mercedes next year. They've shut all that down so people, they've lost jobs and things. And you also look at their performance.

This is the hybrid era where manufacturers are meant to have this huge advantage and who's the manufacturer, the only manufacturer that's basically been a bit rubbish through the whole thing. It's Renault and Alpine. It's a mess. And, you know, you can, we had this conversation, I think in the race review

or qualifying review about should Ferrari sec, Fred Fasser and all this kind of stuff? And you go, no, there's clearly more important issues than just cycling through team principal. Alpine did not get that memo and are just like, no, let's get more people in. Indeed. It's almost as if they can't change a car.

in the space of about a year and it's not the team principal's fault. And what annoys me, and I'm actually just going to have a run to like this because it's really frustrating. Lock in everybody. You just know, and this is what annoys me even more about this whole Flavio situation and how like ridiculous it is, that you know that as soon as Alpine get a good result. So they turn up to Imler and Gassley gets like a lucky PA. Everyone will be like, oh, see, that's good old-fashioned Flavier that is and stuff.

and it's just no, no, it's not right. You shouldn't be in the sport. No, and also, you know, Alpine literally had a double podium last year, and that was nothing to do with Flavio. So let's not make it about Flavio if they do get a good result. There is a part of me that would like to see Lawrence Stroll versus Flavio Briatore as a sort of like rivalry of some description, because they are two massive Bond villains if they were to go together.

That would make for some serious. I'm sure I drive Survivor cooking something up already. yeah, like a little head to head even though, I mean, to be fair, Alpin and Aston there towards the back. Yeah, yeah, it is. The battle for ninth. Anyway, Flavio shouldn't be in the sport. I think that's a full stop on the end of that one. And there you go. That is our quite savage thoughts. It has to be said. Tommy's been let off the leash today. We've had a disagreement. I'm loving. I'm absolutely loving this 2025 season. So Tommy, what are your final thoughts, please, sir? I actually quite yeah

I enjoyed that pod have strong opinions about the situation and it's crazy to think that when we started P1 and we had that 2023 season and thought oh my God I can't believe we've not even had a single driver change even in the winter break and now we're here six races in

and we've had two already who's next yeah who is next that is such a wild thing to think but could there be another one by the end of the season you can't write it off that's for sure You know, Max Verstappen.

He's... 17th in the sprint is done. He's done. The performance clause is locked in. Right, thank you everybody for tuning in. And we'll see you very soon for another podcast. Lots of love. Bye.

Bye. Mature is... What do you think? I was trying to think, like, go and do research of where other people have been banned for... And see if they've... The worst sporting conduct ever seen in the... in their respective sport. See how they were punished.

See how they came back and to the helm of the team. Because ridiculous, ridiculous. But yeah, that's not a chore. We just want to keep ranting. It's just homework now. We're just setting you. But thanks for listening. Goodbye.

Tommy's so beautiful. It's great. Bye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the A-cast's creator network.