“It’s a situation where you’re sad for Jack but really happy for Franco”
This weekend will not only be Kimi Antonelli’s first home race, but it will also be Franco Colapinto’s first race back as a Formula 1 driver.
Expectations will be high for Colapinto, after his predecessor, Jack Doohan, was sacked by Alpine from his seat six races into the season.
F1TV presenter, Laura Winter, believes there’s a bittersweet feeling to the news.
“A lot of people are going to be really disappointed and sad for Jack because he realised his dream and then was given six races, and many would argue not really fully given the chance to show what he’s about and what he can do. But I think everybody enjoyed seeing Franco Colapinto on the track last year so we know with that as well he brings a huge Argentinian fan base” said Winter.
This is not the first time this season a young driver has lost their seat. Liam Lawson was relieved of his duties at Red Bull after three races and switched seats with Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bulls cars.
Embed from Getty Images“I think it opens the door to a bigger question about how teams manage rookie drivers and how they manage rookies careers, how they’re nurturing talent or not and what constitutes success for a rookie. I think that’s a question that Alpine should be looking within to decide because Jack was promoted from within the Alpine Academy and if they want that academy to continue to prosper, provide and give us brilliant drivers then that talent needs to be nurtured as well” commented Winter.
Giving rookie drivers an ample amount of time to adapt is crucial for them if their teams want them to further develop into big stars such as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
“I think if you look at Mercedes, for example, they have put such an arm around Kimi Antonelli and done so from the age of 11 backed him and said we want this 18-year-old kid to come in and replace Lewis Hamilton and I think they are protecting him a lot from the media, from the outside world, from the scrutiny and the noise and also demanding a lot from him, the way he demands a lot from himself.
Embed from Getty Images“So I think there’s a bit of a blueprint there of how to treat rookies and then what we’ve seen in Red Bull and Alpine so far perhaps there are questions raised about how those teams are treating their rookie drivers in comparison to how Mercedes have nurtured Kimi Antonelli so far” explained Winter.
Colapinto only has a 5-race contract, so it will be a matter of his performance and Alpine’s trust in him that will determine if we’ll see the Argentinian on the grid at the end of the season.
