A massive €20 million fee secured Franco Colapinto's Alpine seat, yet insiders reveal his 2026 future is far from guaranteed.
Franco Colapinto stepped into Formula 1 as an emergency replacement at Williams following Logan Sargeant's dismissal in 2024, but the arrival of Carlos Sainz closed the door on a permanent seat at the British outfit. He was subsequently signed by Alpine as a reserve driver — though the scale of the investment made in securing him suggested the team had bigger plans.
A few races into the 2025 World Championship, Colapinto ended up replacing Jack Doohan in the race seat alongside Pierre Gasly. The 2026 season is therefore the first campaign in which the Argentine has been part of a team's project from the very beginning — from pre-season testing through to the car's initial development phase.
However, Motorsport Italia now claims that the South American driver's future beyond the current season may not be as secure as many assume. On the state of the driver market, the publication wrote: "In the background, a wide-open scenario is taking shape: beyond Hamilton and Verstappen, Fernando Alonso could also be weighing up his exit from Formula 1.
"Meanwhile, the futures of Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon appear today less solid than one might expect. It is within this context that a much broader — and above all, far less predictable — driver market could begin to take form.
"Yuki Tsunoda could have strong prospects of returning, while on the rookie front, only two names currently appear to hold the right credentials for the leap to F1: Leonardo Fornaroli and Rafael Camara."
How much did Alpine pay for Franco Colapinto?
The eye-watering fee that Alpine paid Williams to secure Franco Colapinto for the 2025 Formula 1 season has come to light.
Italian outlet FormulaPassion revealed the figures behind the Argentine's move to the French team: "In the end, the move came when no one expected it: they paid Williams €20 million for Colapinto's signature — which, incidentally, will allow Williams to cover the near-certain fine for exceeding the budget cap, a situation partly attributable to the Argentine's time at the team.
"Twenty million euros is no small investment in a world of deal-makers — one where Briatore could consider himself a seasoned operator. It is hard to imagine Alpine spending that much simply to keep a driver on the bench.
"Perhaps it will only take a few races before we see Franco back in action, or perhaps the situation will play out like Alonso's — signed from Minardi in 2001, he only raced for Renault from 2003 onwards — and everything is pushed back to 2026," the outlet reported.