Debate: Who Should Alpine Sign to Drive Alongside Pierre Gasly in 2026?

Linus O'Howell
Oct 14
5 min read

It’s been exactly a year since I last did a debate article, but after talking about it a little bit on Fridays Podcast, I got some inspiration to do one regarding Alpine! See, Alpine have been by far the worst team in Formula 1 this year; they’re currently bottom of the Constructors’ Championship by a considerable margin! However, they’re still worth talking about because they have one of the few seats left to be field for 2026 still remaining, and there are a lot of different options for Alpine to choose from! So, as a result, today’s debate is “Who Should Alpine Sign to Drive Alongside Pierre Gasly in 2026”! As always with these, I will go over a bunch of different names that could (or maybe should) be being considered for the role alongside Gasly, but it’s worth remembering that 2026 promises to be a completely new era for the Enstone team, not only because of the brand-new regulations, but also the fact that Alpine are ditching their own Renault engines to be supplied by Mercedes! So, without further ado, let’s debate!

Franco Colapinto

Franco Colapinto is a 22-year-old Argentine racing driver who currently drives for Alpine in Formula 1! Franco previously won the 2019 F4 Spanish Championship, and he also finished third in both the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup and Toyota Racing Series (interestingly in between Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda)! When it comes to Formula 1, Colapinto is currently in his second season, and he’s scored 5 points in 21 Races! So far in 2025, Franco has struggled for pace; Alpine have been pretty poor, but in fairness to Colapinto, his performances have picked up a little bit in recent weekends! The thing with Franco Colapinto is after making such a sudden impact when he jumped in at Williams last year, the results and performances since then haven’t exactly lived up to that! Franco is without a doubt one of the weakest drivers on the current F1 Grid, but in fairness to him, is there anyone out there (available) who would do a better job in Colapinto’s position? Honestly, I don’t know!

Jack Doohan

Jack Doohan is a 22-year-old Australian racing driver who currently serves as an Alpine Reserve Driver in Formula 1! Jack previously finished second in both the 2019 and 2020 F3 Asian Championships, the 2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship, and third in the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship! When it comes to Formula 1, Doohan has only managed to compete in 7 Races, scoring 0 points! So far in 2025, Jack started the year in the main Alpine seat (alongside Pierre Gasly), but he wasn’t given much of a chance as he was quickly dropped following Miami! Realistically, Jack Doohan isn’t really in with a shout of getting this seat, this was more just me wanting to include him! The reason I wanted to include Jack is that for the most part this year, his performances have been very similar to Franco Colapinto! It’s only recently that Colapinto’s form has started to slowly rise, but that’s because he’s been afforded enough time to get more comfortable in his machinery, something Doohan wasn’t afforded! What I’m basically trying to say is Jack Doohan was good enough to get his shot in Formula 1, but he never got a fair one, and I think that’s the most disappointing part about all of this!

Paul Aron

Paul Aron is a 21-year-old Estonian racing driver who currently serves as an Alpine Reserve Driver in Formula 1! Paul previously finished third in Italian F4 (2019), FRECA (2021 and 2022), FIA Formula 3 (2023), and FIA Formula 2 (2024)! So far in 2025, Aron has served as Alpine’s Reserve Driver, driving for them in FP1 at Monza, and he’s also driven in Practice sessions for Kick Sauber too (at Silverstone and Hungary)! Whilst he hasn’t won any Championships, Paul Aron has shown a great level of consistency throughout his junior formulae career, and the fact that he hasn’t signed for someone in Formula E makes you think that he really does believe that a seat in Formula 1 is there for him! My concern with Paul is that both Colapinto and Doohan had positive careers up to F1, and then things didn’t go to plan! However, everyone is different, and all Aron needs is a chance!

Alex Dunne

Alex Dunne is a 19-year-old Irish racing driver who currently drives for Rodin Motorsport in FIA Formula 2! Alex previously won the 2022 F4 British Championship, and he’s also finished second in both the 2022 Italian F4 (behind a certain Andrea Kimi Antonelli) and 2023 GB3 Championships! So far in 2025, Dunne sits 5th in the standings in his inaugural F2 Season, having won two Feature Races (in Bahrain and Imola)! Alex has also driven in multiple sessions for McLaren this year! The interesting thing regarding Alex Dunne is him and McLaren decided to part ways pretty much out of the blue, and this sort of gives you the impression that there’s a better offer out there for him. Now, Red Bull have been mentioned a lot; that would kind of make sense, but honestly, I think Dunne moving to Alpine is the better bet! I could be completely wrong, but given the year that Alex Dunne has had, a 2026 F1 seat with Alpine isn’t at all out of the question!

Leonardo Fornaroli

Leonardo Fornaroli is a 20-year-old Italian racing who currently drives for Invicta Racing in FIA Formula 2! Leo previously won last year’s FIA Formula 3 Championship, and the best part about that is he didn’t win a single Race! So far in 2025, Fornaroli leads the Formula 2 Championship by 19 points, having won 4 Races this year (3 Sprints and 1 Feature)! For me, Leonardo Fornaroli is the best driver in this list, but for some reason, he never seems to be in any kind of conversation for an F1 seat moving forward! I think Leo has shown his quality over the last two years, and if he goes on to end the year as F2 Champion; well that puts him in the same category as some of the best in the world!

Final Verdict

After going over all 5 drivers, I have come to the conclusion that Alpine should promote Paul Aron into a full-time seat to partner Pierre Gasly for the 2026 Formula 1 Season! Realistically, this seat is going to come down to either Paul or Franco Colapinto, and honestly, whilst Colapinto did cost the team a fortune to sign, they lose nothing from giving Aron a go! Paul is a very talented driver; he’s shown that throughout his junior formulae career, and I think he could do a pretty decent job! Ultimately, putting Jack Doohan back in the car just doesn’t really make sense, unfortunately for him, whilst I’d definitely sign Leonardo Fornaroli over Alex Dunne! Having said that, I do stand by that Leo Fornaroli is the best driver in this list, but Alpine clearly aren’t interested in him, so it’s more realistic for me to pick Aron!