Franco Colapinto's manager has appealed for restraint as speculation intensifies ahead of the 2025 season.

Alpine adviser Flavio Briatore has recently been vocal about the possibility that Colapinto, currently on a high-value loan from Williams, could soon displace rookie Jack Doohan.

"If you have two drivers, choose between two," said the outspoken Italian. "If you have five drivers, choose between five."

Team principal Oliver Oakes has not ruled out the threat to Doohan's race seat, though he recently took aim at "keyboard warriors" for amplifying the narrative.

"I think he should be given a bit of space just to get on with it for a few rounds," Oakes told Melbourne's Age newspaper.

"And then at the end of the day, like any driver, you've got to deliver. Whether it's nice or kind to Jack, he's driving a Formula 1 car. That's every boy's dream, but it's also his job.

"For me, that's pretty simple."

For many of Colapinto's passionate Argentine fans, the situation is equally straightforward, with a wave of social media criticism targeting Doohan.

"To the haters who think they help Franco," posted Colapinto's manager Jamie Campbell-Walter, "you are doing him more harm than good."

He condemned the "insults to the team, to Jack and sometimes to other supporters of Alpine," stressing that Colapinto's team is not fuelling the tension.

"Franco and all of us who support him are fans of the whole team, Pierre (Gasly) and Jack," said Campbell-Walter. "Conduct yourselves with passion but not abuse and arrogance.

"Franco's time will come but not like this - you will achieve the opposite."

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, however, believes it's clear that Colapinto, 21, is poised to take Doohan's seat sooner rather than later.

"I know Flavio," he told Sky Deutschland. "If the boy (Doohan) doesn't perform - and he wasn't that strong in the test either, from what we hear - then it will be over pretty quickly."

Schumacher suggested Doohan's exit could come "as soon as Australia".

As for Colapinto, he added: "He already knows most of the tracks, he has a good sponsor, and he also brings his speed. However, he also has to find some fully comprehensive insurance," Schumacher quipped, alluding to Colapinto's string of crashes late last season at Williams.

Schumacher also noted that Doohan could yet turn things around.

"If he comes to Melbourne and drives Pierre Gasly into the ground, then of course he can become a superstar. But it doesn't look like that at the moment." body check tags ::