F1'25, R14: Delete! Delete! Delete!

It can’t be easy being the only current driver on zero points, and yet Franco Colapinto finds himself in this unenviable position. The Argentine driver has the same number of points as anyone reading this, but you’ve achieved your zero in fewer races than him, at least.

Colapinto has survived one three week gap between races, where Valtteri Bottas was rumoured to be the next man up for Alpine. The move would make sense as the Team prepares to move from works to customer engines next year supplied by Mercedes, so getting a veteran who can provide valuable feedback ahead of their new powertrain is a sensible move.

This time, the looming shutdown has Paul Aron in the frame to be Alpine’s fourth driver of the season as they look to build on Pierre Gasly’s 20 points. With the team rooted at the bottom of the Team standings, the Doohan-Colapinto combination has clearly not worked and as rumours of the latter’s sponsors are beginning to pull out, the voices get louder to replace him.

And in case you thought Alpine had any luck, please allow them to smash that notion. They loaned Aron to Sauber for a couple of practice sessions, and the second one in Hungary ended after just eight laps due to technical problems.

So it looks like he is likely to be the next roll of the dice if they don’t go back to Doohan, looking at the guy who finished 3rd in last season’s Formula 2 championship as opposed to the driver who finished eighth (Colapinto’s season obviously finished early last year). 

It must be somewhat galling for Alpine to see one successful product of their Academy system on the Formula 1 grid - right at the top of the standings, Oscar Piastri might be the most vanilla title contender in history. That is not a criticism. Even further down the grid, they’ve previously supported Alex Albon (back when Team Enstone were Lotus). 

And in another example of the Alpine-McLaren talent pathway, if they look at IndyCar, another former Alpine Academy driver is currently having fun in papaya. Christian Lundgaard has five podiums this season for Arrow McLaren and finished seventh in the Indy500. 

The Alpine version of its academy has seen its biggest successes come at different teams. In Alpine’s previous incarnation, Formula Renault 3.5 was a junior series in its own right and became essential prep for F1 drivers of the future. Seven Grand Prix winners came through the series which Renault stopped supporting in 2015 and was eventually mothballed in 2017.

From the outside, it looks like the rebrand from Renault to Alpine has coincided with Alpine hollowing out a works team to a customer operation. Now, with a driver carousel, it hasn’t really worked out what it should do alongside Gasly, with the second Alpine not scoring any points since November 2024 and a brilliant double podium from Esteban Ocon and Gasly in a rain-hit Sao Paulo, benefitting from a red flag caused by - you guessed it - a Franco Colapinto crash.

If you look back at his stock then, he was seen as a raw but enthusiastic driver, showing no fear with his inexperience actually being a positive for him. He was with Williams, knowing he was auditioning for another team with Carlos Sainz coming in. There were light rumours that he might join Red Bull through the RB team, but eventually, it was Alpine who took him on a multi-year agreement from Williams, meaning some sort of transfer fee was probably paid.

At the moment, with both RBs and Williams being relatively consistent threats for midfield points, both teams must feel as though they’ve made the right decision instead of seeing Colapinto languishing towards the final five on track.

And the other midfield teams must be cursing shutdown stopping their momentum for the rest of August. Sauber, inexplicably, have had six consecutive points finishes, including that podium for Nico Hulkenberg. Aston Martin unlocked something in Hungary, with Fernando Alonso revisiting the site of his first victory to take fifth while Lance Stroll came home in seventh. Everyone is stepping up as the summer break gives drivers some much-needed downtime.

Well, almost everyone. Haas took some sprint points in Belgium, but have not scored in a Grand Prix since Austria. But with Colapinto, be honest, did you notice him during the Hungarian Grand Prix? His stint in Budapest saw him finish 18th, one place better than he did the week before in Spa but he isn’t troubling the people that put together highlights or the people that put together Grand Prix reports. In just under a year, he has turned himself from a young future star to just another guy, and more than likely, another entry to the list of drivers who did not complete one full season in F1. 

The Nyck de Vries career route, but without the Formula 2 or Formula E titles to go with it.

Formula 1 as a whole gets ready to shut its doors and prepare some fantastically passive aggressive out of office emails (seriously, try it) as they get some rest ahead of the end of the European F1 season and the flyaway races pile on the air miles and demands on the Teams. It’s more likely than not that Franco Colapinto won’t be in the Alpine seat as the Team hopes they can get to 2026 without any more setbacks.