– Will Formula 2 driver Gabriele Mini soon get his chance to race in Formula 1? The Alpine junior was allowed to gain experience this week during test drives in Silverstone in an older car, covering more than 600 kilometers.
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The experience should also benefit him for his simulator sessions in Silverstone, where he shares the work with Estonian Paul Aron, who has one advantage over Mini: real race experience in a current Formula 1 car.
Unlike Mini, Aron was allowed to participate in two Free Practice sessions in 2026 – but not for Alpine. In Barcelona, he sat behind the wheel of Nico Hülkenberg’s Audi R26, and in Austria in the sister car of Gabriel Bortoleto (see the overview of Friday drivers 2026).
Already in 2025, Aron had Friday practice sessions with Sauber, in addition to three appearances for Alpine. Now the chance could come for Mini, who has been part of the Alpine Academy since 2023, as the French team still has to allocate the full quota of four Friday practice sessions to a rookie.
Mini is currently the most promising candidate for a Formula 1 cockpit in Alpine’s junior program. The 21-year-old won the Italian Formula 4 in 2020 and was runner-up in the European Formula Regional Championship as well as in Formula 3, where he lost the 2024 title to Leonardo Fornaroli in the very last corner of the season.
Also in the current season, the Italian is again on course for the runner-up position: behind Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov, the MP driver currently holds second place and has stood on the podium eight times in 14 races.
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Photo gallery: The most promising juniors of the Formula 1 teams 2026
For the 2027 Formula 1 season, only Pierre Gasly currently holds a valid contract with Alpine. Who will occupy the second cockpit is still open. The contract of regular driver Franco Colapinto expires at the end of the season.
However, the Alpine Academy has so far not been a good breeding ground for juniors, as only one driver, Jack Doohan, made the jump to the Formula 1 team – and there he only got seven races before being replaced by Colapinto.
The last promotion before that was Romain Grosjean back in Renault times in 2009, who had to step in as a replacement for the fired Nelson Piquet Jr. and was also pushed back to the sidelines after seven races before getting another chance at Lotus in 2012.
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Other drivers like Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou broke away from Alpine to make their Formula 1 debut with another team, although Alpine would have liked to keep Piastri in their own racing team …
