Villeneuve’s damning Franco Colapinto verdict with Alpine move confirmed

Jacques Villeneuve believes Franco Colapinto has only himself to blame for damaging his chances after his late-season crashes cost him a seat on the F1 2025 grid.

Colapinto was an unexpected replacement at Williams when James Vowles called time on Logan Sargeant’s stay, the Argentinean given nine races in Formula 1.

Jacques Villeneuve tells Franco Colapinto: Can’t cry about it

It was, at least from Williams’ side, always going to be just nine races as the team had already confirmed their F1 2025 driver line-up with Carlos Sainz joining Alex Albon.

As Colapinto scored points in two of his first four races, something Sargeant had not managed to do despite having 15 races, the Formula 1 paddock began to pay attention to the 21-year-old who was soon linked to Red Bull. And not just their junior team, the senior outfit.

But crashes at the Brazilian Grand Prix, including one behind the Safety Car, were followed by shunts in qualifying for the Las Vegas GP and a DNF at the opening corner in Qatar.

Red Bull lost interest and Colapinto faced the prospect of a season as a Williams reserve driver at best before Alpine picked him up for the same role. Like Williams, they too had confirmed their 2025 line-up months prior in Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan, but unlike Williams, Flavio Briatore is open to changing drivers mid-season.

Villeneuve reckons Colapinto has only himself to blame for not securing a definite place on the F1 2025 grid.

Alpine’s driver moves create early 2025 headlines

👉 Explained: Franco Colapinto’s Alpine deal and how Williams can still benefit

👉 PF1 verdict: Is Alpine’s move for Franco Colapinto unfair on Jack Doohan?

“Franco Colapinto damaged his chances,” Villeneuve told Action Network. “If you are given the golden chance, it’s for you to make the most of it.

‘He can’t cry about it. He got a few races out of this in F1. Not many people get that so it’s already impressive that he got that chance.

“I’m not sure what will happen with his future. He’s still a quick driver. But what he showed is he didn’t judge the situation really well.”

The 1997 World Champion also weighed in on the decision made by half the grid to embrace a rookie driver for this year’s championship.

Not only will Doohan be on the grid for Alpine, but Mercedes have signed Kimi Antonelli, Haas have brought in Oliver Bearman, Isack Hadjar will race for Racing Bulls and Sauber have Gabriel Bortoletto.

“No idea what to expect out of Bortoletto,” Villeneuve said of the reigning F2 champion. “No idea.

“Formula 2 has never been a good judge of drivers. So, it’s pointless until they get into F1. But right now they get into F1 with so little experience.

“It’s very difficult to understand how you can get to that top level in the biggest sport in the world so quickly at such a young age with so little experience. I find that quite surprising.

“They get a lot of simulator work, which allows them to be quick but then you also see what happened with Antonelli in Monza.”

Bortoletto won the 2024 F2 championship ahead of Hadjar while Antonelli was P6 in the standings with Bearman only 12th. As for Doohan, he contested the 2023 F2 season where he was third before spending a year on the sidelines as Alpine’s reserve.

Bearman and Doohan arrive on the F1 grid with at least one F1 Grand Prix under their belts. Bearman raced for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia where he was P7 before contesting the Azerbaijan and Brazilian GPs with Haas where he was 10th and 12th respectively. Doohan was 15th on his debut at the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP when he replaced Esteban Ocon for the final race of the season.