{"id":90276,"date":"2025-08-24T21:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T21:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/90276\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T21:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T21:06:10","slug":"f1-driver-told-his-chances-of-retaining-his-2026-seat-are-over-despite-14-7m-sponsorship-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/90276\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 driver told his chances of retaining his 2026 seat are \u2018over\u2019 despite \u00a314.7m sponsorship fund"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The grid for the 2026 Formula 1 season is slowly taking shape.<\/p>\n

The Formula 1 driver market<\/a> went into overdrive last year, leading to plenty of teams lining up with new pairings in 2025, and many stars already tied for next year when F1\u2019s new regulations<\/a> are introduced.<\/p>\n

There have been a couple of new contracts handed out this year, although no driver who is at risk of being dropped at the end of the current campaign has put pen to paper yet.<\/p>\n

However, George Russell is expected to sign a new deal at Mercedes<\/a>, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli likely to be retained alongside him.<\/p>\n

Friday 29th August to Sunday 31st August
\n Friday 29th August 10:30 1st Practice Friday 29th August 14:00 2nd Practice Saturday 30th August 09:30 3rd Practice Saturday 30th August 13:00 1st Qualifying Saturday 30th August 13:25 2nd Qualifying Saturday 30th August 13:48 3rd Qualifying Sunday 31st August 13:00 Race <\/p>\n

Cadillac are closing in on signing Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez<\/a>, with a deal potentially being announced ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

That leaves just four seats left to fill for 2026, unless a contracted driver is dropped like Perez was at the end of last year.<\/p>\n

A trio of Red Bull-backed drivers are still awaiting their fate, as is Alpine<\/a> star Franco Colapinto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Argentine, it looks more and more unlikely that he\u2019ll be retained for 2026, despite his financial backing.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Who is Alpine 2025 F1 driver Franco Colapinto? Everything you need to know<\/a><\/p>\n

\"F1Photo by Beata Zawrzel\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesFranco Colapinto told his Alpine career is \u2018over\u2019 at the end of the 2025 Formula 1 season<\/p>\n

A report from the Swiss outlet Blick<\/a> has shared more details about the 22-year-old\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

At the start of the season, Alpine lined up with Pierre Gasly<\/a> and Jack Doohan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the pressure was already piled on Doohan, with Colapinto brought in on loan from Williams during the winter break.<\/p>\n

Six pointless weekends saw Doohan\u2019s time on the grid come to an end, giving the Argentine his chance to shine.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Colapinto has had eight race weekends to make an impact on the drivers\u2019 championship<\/a>, but is the only active racer yet to score a point.<\/p>\n

CategoryFranco ColapintoPierre Gasly2025 points013Grand Prix results35Grand Prix qualifying26Grand Prix wins00Grand Prix poles00Grand Prix podiums00Best finish13th6thRetirements01Disqualifications00Fastest laps00Grand Prix points finishes03Sprint results10Sprint Qualifying01Sprint wins00Sprint poles00Sprint podiums00<\/p>\n

It\u2019s believed that Colapinto has \u00a314.7m worth of sponsorship behind him, and it\u2019s the only thing currently keeping him in his seat.<\/p>\n

The report goes on to say that \u2018after the finale in Abu Dhabi in December, at the latest, it\u2019s over\u2019 for Colapinto, leaving one seat still open in the driver market.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of candidates who would love to put themselves forward to get back onto the grid, and it\u2019s likely to be a talking point that persists throughout the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AlpinePhoto by Kym Illman\/Getty ImagesWho could Alpine sign alongside Pierre Gasly for the 2026 Formula 1 season?<\/p>\n

Gasly is confirmed for the 2026 F1 season<\/a>, but Colapinto is in grave danger of being moved on alongside him ahead of next year.<\/p>\n

However, Colapinto could make a case to Flavio Briatore<\/a> that he deserves another chance if he can start consistently beating Gasly and get off the mark in the drivers\u2019 championship.<\/p>\n

Doohan is still on Alpine\u2019s books and working hard behind the scenes, but it seems unlikely that the team will give him another opportunity.<\/p>\n

TEAMDRIVER 1DRIVER 2AlpinePierre GaslyN\/AAston MartinFernando AlonsoLance StrollAudiGabriel BortoletoNico HulkenbergCadillacN\/AN\/AFerrariCharles LeclercLewis HamiltonHaasEsteban OconOliver BearmanMcLarenLando NorrisOscar PiastriMercedesN\/AN\/ARacing BullsN\/AN\/ARed Bull RacingMax VerstappenN\/AWilliamsAlex AlbonCarlos Sainz2026 confirmed F1 drivers<\/p>\n

Paul Aron could get his chance at the \u2018tail end\u2019 of 2025 at Alpine<\/a>, but asking a rookie to step in at the end of a regulations cycle into the worst car on the grid isn\u2019t exactly setting the Estonian up for success.<\/p>\n

With Bottas and Perez set to join Cadillac, the number of ex-drivers still looking for a seat on the grid has shrunk.<\/p>\n

Whether the likes of Mick Schumacher or Zhou Guanyu appeal to Alpine is yet to be seen, while whichever Red Bull driver loses their seat if Arvid Lindblad is promoted could also suddenly become an option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The grid for the 2026 Formula 1 season is slowly taking shape. The Formula 1 driver market went…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2355,1687,372,11819,6537,2356,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-90276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-alpine","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-1-driver-market","tag-formula1","tag-franco-colapinto","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}