Alpine are evaluating their options for F1 202⛎6 with 'X Factor' style auditions following their brutal driver🌸 swap, it has been claimed.

The team confirmed on Wednesday morning that 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Franco Colapinto will drive for the next five grands prix as a replacement for 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Jack Doohan, who had conte🌊sted the first six races of🐬 the 2025 F1 season.

Colapinto will ge🍃t five rounds to impress alongside in a decision which has been taken with one eye on the future and the 🐟looming regulation changes in 2026.

That is according to Sky 🤡Sports F1 reporter Craig Slater, who drew a comparison to British reality television music competition ‘The X Factor’ as he analysed the latest developments at Enstone.

“Alpine think theyไ are going to🔯 have a good package for next season. They’ve got Mercedes engines, their chassis already very good. They’ve got some good people behind the scenes,” Slater said on Sky Sports News.

“They might beꩲ one of a quartet of teams that can potentially fight for the championship next year💝. Even some people are linking Max Verstappen with a potential move to Alpine, although that seems far-fetched at the moment.

“They’ve got Pierre Gasly who they believe in. They’ve had a look at Jack Do𒊎ohan. Franco Colapinto, they’ve already given four tests to in a historic car alongside Paul Aron, the young Estonian, who is also on their books.

“They want to evaluate the best driver pairing for 20⛄26. Maybe at the end of these five races, they might decide against Colapinto. Maybe they’ll give Aron a run in the team?

“I think that’s unlikely. I think if Colapinto does okay he will stay in for the rest of the year but that’s the idea that this is a little bit oﷺf a driver X-factor, a little bit of a competition and comparison between them to see who partners Gasly next season.”

How much of a role did finances play?

Colapinto’s168澳洲5最新开奖结果: significant financial backing✨ is believed to have influenced Alpine’s decision.

“The financial inducements behind Colapinto make him an attractive🤡 prospect, if all other factors are equal,” Slater explained.

“It’s a tough wor♔ld, it’s a cruel world but it’s a ruthless world and ultimately Flavio Briatore is a tough guy who takes tough decisions and this is very much out of his playbook, you have to say.

“Maybe the biggest single factor with r🔴egard to why Colapinto is in the car now, and that is the financial compulsions of all of this.

“My information is that Alpine paid €4.5m to get Colapinto on a loan deal from Williams, within five years he has to potentially go back to Williams. But he brings in a lot of money,𒀰 maybe up to €20m per season, only if he drives however - so he has to be in the car.”

Colapinto’s promotion was confirmed just 12 hours after teamꦬ principal Oliver Oakes’ shock departure from Alpine was ann♐ounced.

Asked if the two developments are linked, Slater🔯 replied: “Interestingly not necessarily, is what I’m being told behind the scenes.

“The factory only found out last night about Oliver Oakes. They were informed yesterday that two bits of news were coming and no reasons have been given thus far as to why Oliver🅺 Oakes is leaving as team principal.

“I𒊎 don’t think he in principal disagreed with the fact they were going to switch Doohan and Colapinto but he possibly disagreed with the timing of it.

“Was there a sense in his own mind that ‘am I team principal or are the big executive decisions really being taken b💖y Briatore? Is this job not quite as it was sold to me when I took it on?’.

“But perhaps🐼 there were other aspects behind the scenes that were 𒅌going on that we will only find out at a later point.

“The fact of the switch coming now and🎶 the decision being taken, maybe he feels that Briatore just needs to be team principal, in name or whether he takes that job on permanently🐬, or seeks another kind of deputy to run the factory while he is the public face of the team. I think that’s likelier.

“There 🍒are people like Davide Sanche🌸z, Dave Greenwood at Alpine that can do the kind of oversight of the factory while he [Briatore] does the politics.

“No explanation for why Oakes has gone but there could be some other issues behind the scenes that hav♏e prom💝pted that.”