Bernie Ecclestone has no idea what a driver on Alpine’s radar to potentially replace Franco Colapinto could give any Formula 1 team if they obtained a seat on the grid.
Questions continue to linger about the Enstone outfit’s driver line-up, not only for the 2026 F1 season but also the remainder of the current campaign. Alpine are letting Colapinto race on entering the final 10 rounds of the year, yet the 22-year-old is on a race-by-race contract.
Alpine initially confirmed Colapinto for just five rounds when he replaced Jack Doohan back in May. The Argentine has since struggled to justify his promotion from a reserve driver role to a race seat. Alpine are still waiting to see Colapinto score his first point racing their A525.
Executive adviser Flavio Briatore has even been exploring the F1 driver market to find a star who could take over if Alpine decide to drop Colapinto. But they have just seen two targets slip off the board, with Cadillac confirming their signings of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.
Photo by Kym Illman/Getty ImagesBernie Ecclestone does not know what Mick Schumacher can offer any F1 team
Briatore has also looked for other options, though, including Alpine potentially giving Mick Schumacher his second chance on the grid by replacing Colapinto. According to Ran, taking over the A525 is now Schumacher’s final chance to return to the F1 grid in 2025 or in 2026.
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2026 confirmed F1 drivers
Alpine have been considering Schumacher as a replacement for Colapinto for months, with the German first appearing on the Enstone outfit’s radar to take over from the Argentine in May. Colapinto’s crash in qualifying on his debut at Imola saw Alpine begin to look around.
Still, former F1 supremo Ecclestone does not know what Schumacher could bring to any F1 team, despite being on Alpine’s radar to potentially replace Colapinto. He feels the 26-year-old “never” showed he should be in F1 with Haas, and people have forgotten what he adds.
Ecclestone told sport.de: “So much time has passed that people no longer remember what he’s capable of. Why should he be able to help the team? I don’t know what he could bring to the team that would be helpful.
“He has a good name, but can he be of any help as a driver? He’s never shown that, so why should he be able to do that now? But he should still be given a chance.”
Alpine are Mick Schumacher’s last chance to return to F1 after failing to sign for Cadillac
Photo by CHRISTIAN BRUNA/AFP via Getty Images
Schumacher was confident about signing for Cadillac, but that optimism was misplaced with Bottas and Perez joining the team. He might still secure a role at the American crew, though, as Cadillac view Schumacher as an ideal reserve driver in a dual role with a drive in the WEC.
The German has started to make a name for himself in the World Endurance Championship over the past few seasons. But a return to Formula 1 has remained Schumacher’s goal since Haas chose against retaining him following a two-year spell with the team in 2021 and 2022.
Schumacher started 43 of his 44 Grand Prix entries with Haas, but he only secured 12 points in two years. He scored four with a P8 finish in the 2022 British GP and eight with a P6 finish in the 2022 Austrian GP. Schumacher retired from five races, and he also did not start one.
But after spending 2023 as Mercedes’ reserve driver, Schumacher joined Alpine’s WEC team in 2024. The son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher has taken four podiums in the WEC so far, including helping to P3 finishes at Imola and Spa during the 2025 campaign.