Franco Colapinto has joined Alpine as a test and reserve driver for the 2025 Formula One season after the team struck a deal to sign him from Williams. The team has maintained that Jack Doohan, who it named as Esteban Ocon’s replacement for 2025 at the end of August, is its race driver for the start of the season.

Colapinto joins Alpine after making his F1 debut with Williams in 2024 leaving the future of rookie Doohan in doubt

By alternating Spa — and probably removing it from the calendar entirely — F1 intends to use its spot to rake in more cash from richer locales. The current front-runner to backfill Spa? Madrid, a city willing to pay F1 $52M per year for the privilege.

Formula One has announced a new six-year extension with the Belgian Grand Prix on a rotational basis. Doubts have surrounded the future of F1 at Spa, but the historic race, which started in 1925, will now return in four of the next season seasons.

The deal means the fixture at Spa-Francorchamps – which is among the most recognisable in F1 – will be omitted from the schedule in 2028 and 2030.

General Motors has set up an engine company to turn its planned Cadillac Formula One entry into a full works team by the end of the decade, the carmaker said on Thursday.