Off-air TV blunder forces F1 team to address rumour of brutal driver axing

A slip of the tongue from a sponsor of Franco Colapinto’s has forced Alpine to swiftly address the red-hot driver rumour.

Jack Doohan had not even driven the first grand prix of his rookie season, since being picked by Alpine, when suggestions started that he could be dropped from his race seat.

Alpine signed Colapinto, who had impressed at Williams last year, as a reserve driver after naming Doohan.

A hint about Alpine axing Jack Doohan?

Now the suggestion that Doohan’s days in the car are numbered have amplified due to a remark, made in error, by a backer of Colapinto’s.

Horacio Marín, CEO of Argentine energy company YPF, who sponsor Colapinto, was overheard speaking because his microphone was still live, even though he was no longer recording a TV segment.

“At Imola,” he muttered, the context being when Colapinto would return to the F1 grid.

The F1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix is May 19 meaning, if he is correct, that Doohan’s time in the Alpine is drawing to a close already.

It forced Oliver Oakes, the Alpine team principal, to set the record straight.

“I saw it, like everyone else,” said Oakes. “I think it was a sponsor from Argentina off-camera giving his view on Franco, when he’s going to be in the car.

"I’m sure there’s a lot of people in Argentina who’d like him in the car this Sunday. We’ve been pretty open as a team that that’s just noise.

"Jack needs to continue doing a good job. But it’s natural that there’s always speculation there."

Oakes was asked to confirm if Doohan would drive at Imola later this month.

He answered: “Yeah, as it is today, Jack is our driver along with Pierre [Gasly]. We’ve been pretty clear on that.

“We always evaluate, but yeah – today, that is the case.”

Doohan was 16th in the sprint race in Miami on Saturday, then qualified 14th for the grand prix.