Franco Colapinto head-to-head with Jack Doohan in Alpine test

Franco Colapinto got his first outing for Alpine at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Wednesday.

Alpine’s F1 executive advisor, Flavio Briatore, posted a video on his Instagram account, showing Colapinto exiting the A523 at the Spanish circuit.

Alpine were one of three teams present at the Barcelona track, with Ferrari and McLaren testing for Pirelli.

With Alpine making the most of their TPC (testing of previous cars) mileage, specific details of how Colapinto or Jack Doohan fared are unclear as the team hasn’t mentioned the test yet.

Regardless, Briatore was keen to put the spotlight on Colapinto, whose lap times will likely be compared to Doohan’s.

As Colapinto is only a reserve driver, there’s no limit to the amount of mileage he can do behind an older F1 car.

For the 20 drivers on the grid, there’s a 1000km limit across the year.

A chance for Colapinto to impress?

Doohan is set to start the year as Alpine’s full-time driver alongside Gasly.

However, it’s widely expected that Colapinto will take his seat if the Australian fails to deliver the results.

Colapinto starred during his early races with Williams, replacing Logan Sargeant in the middle of 2024.

However, a scrappy end to the campaign, littered with errors, and a widely-reported hefty buy-out-clause, meant interest cooled from other teams such as Red Bull.

Alpine unveiled Colapinto as their reserve and test driver at the start of 2025, but with rumours of Briatore being unconvinced about Doohan, a change mid-season is probably inevitable.

Briatore isn’t afraid to make brutal driver changes, particularly with the second driver in the team.

While the test in Barcelona was a chance for Doohan and Colapinto to get up to speed, Alpine previously used a test at Paul Ricard to compare Doohan and Mick Schumacher.

Doohan impressed Alpine and was given the seat over Schumacher for 2025.