Alpine replaced Jacques Duhan with Franco Kulapinto on a five -race deal starting with Emilia Romania GP | F1 news

Alpine dropped Jack Doohan and installed Franco Kulapinto as a coach of the Pierre Jasli team in an agreement of five courses that will start with the big Emilia Romagna race at the end of next week.

Douuhan, who will remain with the Alps as a backup driver, has lost his seat after failing to score a point during the six -six rounds of the Formula 1 2025 season, which made the 22 -year -old driver being replaced this year after Red Ball reduced Liam Lawson to his novice team after only two races.

Speculation about the future of Duhan began before his upward campaign started, with the Alps in January signed on the Kulapinto of Williams, where a reserve driver raises rumors that the Australian will be replaced soon.

Colabinto, 21, attracted a quick star and an important financial support from his sponsors in his homeland, Argentina, as he drew his attention in nine race matches for the Liberals at the end of last season, but it will be placed under immediate pressure through what the team describes as “Duran” is part of a “continuous assessment” of their driver’s squad.

The announcement of the resignation of Oliver Oaks as director of the Alps team, as his duties assumed the executive advisor Flavio Bricor, who supervised the multiple titles of the world of Beniton in the 1990s and Renault in the middle of 2000.

In the release of the Alps that confirms the driver’s key, Bricor said: “After reviewing the opening races for this season, we reached the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre in the next five races.

“With the presence of the field closely this year, and with a competitive car, which it improves in the past 12 months, we are in a position in which we allow us to see the need to rotate our formation. We also know that the 2026 season will be an important matter for the team and a full evaluation of drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to increase our wages in the next year.

“We continue to support Jack as a team, as he acted in a very professional way in his role as a race driver so far this season. The following five races will give us an opportunity to try something different, and after this time period, we will evaluate our options.”

Duhan: The reduction is difficult

Duhan finally obtained his chance in the Alps after three seasons as a reserve driver, as the team signed it in 2025 in August last year before he was also proven to the 2024 final race instead of the departure Esteban Ocon.

However, the signing of Kulapinto as a reserve in January led to a fixed debate about the field about when Duhan will be replaced, as both the driver and Oki must answer questions about the topic in almost every media session in 2025.

While Duhan showed a flash of speed, the big incidents in the opening match in Australia and the third round in Japan increased only pressure on him, which seemed to affect the latest weekend in the Miami race while he was honest in his team on the radio after he came out of the enemy’s rehabilitation.

“I am very proud of achieving my lifetime to be a professional Formula 1 driver and I will be grateful to the team forever to help me achieve this dream,” Douuhan said.

“It is clear that this last chapter is difficult for me because as a professional driver, of course, I want to be a race. However, I appreciate the team’s confidence and commitment. We have long -term goals as one team to achieve it and I will continue to do my best in any way I can help in achieving.

“At the present time, I will keep my head down, continue to work hard, and watch with interest in the next five races and continue to chase my personal goals.”

The unconventional Colabinto F1 trip takes another turn

Colabinto’s promotion of reserves on a deal that rarely sees a short -term deal is the latest chapter in what has become one of the most unconventional works in the F1 profession in the history of modern sport.

He said: “First, I would like to thank the team for giving me the opportunity to lead competitively for the next five races. I will work hard with the team to prepare for the next race in Emola and the next triple president, which will undoubtedly be very doubtful and a great challenge for everyone.

“I stayed sharp, and I am as much as possible with the team’s race support test program, as well as on the ENSTONE simulation device. I will do my best to quickly quickly and give him everything I have to provide the best possible results besides Pierre.”

The Argentine Logan Sagint store in Williams in the last nine rounds of 2024, but had no way to the 2025 seat with the team where they had already fell on the very strong conjugation of Alex Alex and Carlos Science.

Kolapinto began an impressive start in his F1 career with finishes in scoring points in his first four races, which led to his association with a seat in Red Ball, or more realisticly, the novice bulls in the team’s race.

However, its shape decreased with several incidents in the closing stages of the season, and it appears that he left to watch from the side lines as a Williams reserve driver in 2025.

Then came his sudden move to the Alps in January, with the conditions unclear at that time, as the director of the Williams James Fawls team insisted that the Group will return to Colabinto “at some point.” Since then, the driver’s director confirmed that the arrangement is a five -year loan.

He now has five races to establish himself in the Alps, with a reserve driver associated with Duhan, and perhaps more realistic, Estonian Paul Aroun, who is 21 years old, is waiting for his replacement.

The European F1 season begins with the Great Emilia Romagna race from 16 to 18 May, on the air on Sky SPORTS F1. Stream Sky SPORTS at now – no contract, cancellation at any time