Perez an option for Alpine F1 Team if Colapinto does a Doohan

With Flavio Briatore running the show at Alpine, even before he replaced Ollie Oakes as Team Principal last week, Pierre Gasly seems untouchable and remains all they have in terms of an experienced driver who can deliver results. The Jack Doohan experiment failed. What if the Franco Colapinto experiment also fails too? Why not give Sergio Perez a call?

According to multiple reports, including Reuters, 'Team Perez' made another approach to Alpine during the Miami Grand Prix weekend, renewing talks that were first initiated in late 2024. Discussions reportedly took place with Briatore directly, and the door is said to be “open” for a possible deal in the future.

That future could be after the summer break – or sooner. Should Colapinto blow his second crack at Formula 1, as we saw Doohan do with the French team and Liam Lawson at Red Bull, then Perez would be able and surely willing to get back into a Formula 1 car and rebuild his reputation.

As it stands, with Briatore back in control of the Enstone outfit following Oakes’s abrupt resignation on personal grounds, he is putting his faith in youth for now. But it's one down and another to go, after Doohan was benched and Colapinto handed a five-race opportunity to prove himself.

It was a ruthless call, but one that fits with Briatore’s style and stated goal: building Alpine into a force for the new era beginning in 2026.

Briatore made his stance clear when he returned to the paddock last year. Back then, the 75-year-old Italian dismissed the importance of Alpine’s 2025 driver line-up altogether, framing this season as a transitional phase.

“At the moment, you need to put the team together, from the commercial side, the technical side, and the management side. The driver makes no difference now. The difference will be in 2026, 2027, and 2028. This should be the difference for the driver,” Briatore said at the team's launch earlier this year.

It’s a pragmatic view. Alpine is still reeling from a string of failed leadership stints and a revolving door of senior advisors and managers plagued by underwhelming results. If the technical and operational foundations aren’t solid by the time the 2026 regulation reset arrives, no amount of driver magic will make a difference.

So, where does this leave Perez? A massive step closer to returning to the Formula 1 grid, as Alpine and Cadillac are sure to have him at the top of their shopping list.

If Colapinto underdelivers – as did Doohan – Perez, an experienced race winner who’s worked with top teams and endured the pressures of F1 title-contending campaigns, may be exactly what the Alpine F1 Team needs to patch up their driver mess. Unless Cadillac gets Checo's signature first, of course.