Alpine have been tipped to strike deals with a number of key Sergio Perez sponsors following the signing of Franco Colapinto from Williams for the F1 2025 season.

It comes amid claims that the Enstone-based team paid a fee of €20million (£16.58m/$20.50m) to sign Colapinto as the team’s new reserve driver.

Franco Colapinto to take Sergio Perez sponsors to Alpine?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Alpine announced last week that Colapinto will become the team’s official reserve driver for the new season following an impressive cameo with Williams in the second half of F1 2024.

Colapinto won many admirers after replacing Logan Sargeant at Williams after last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, scoring points in two of his first four appearances in Azerbaijan and the United States.

The Argentine’s performances attracted interest from a number of leading teams, with Colapinto briefly linked with replacing Perez at Red Bull.

The signing of Colapinto has raised further question marks over the future of Jack Doohan, who is gearing up for his first season with Alpine after making his debut at the F1 2024 finale in Abu Dhabi.

Doohan is widely reported to have a short-term contract with Alpine with rumours surfacing last week that the Australian’s deal only covers the first six races of F1 2025, which would take him up to the Miami Grand Prix on May 4.

PlanetF1.com understands that Doohan’s continued participation in the F1 2025 season will be based on performance, as is the case with every other driver on the grid.

Briatore recently moved to publicly “guarantee” that Doohan will start the season as Pierre Gasly’s team-mate at the Australian Grand Prix on March 16, but warned that he will not hesitate to make a change if performance is lacking.

Speaking to Argentina’s Infobae on Monday, Maria Catarineu, a member of Colapinto’s management team, revealed that the driver has signed a five-year deal with Alpine after “very intense” negotiations with Briatore.

And a report by Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport has claimed that Alpine have parted with €20m to sign Colapinto, with the fee “paid immediately” to Williams rather than in installments.

The deal to sign Colapinto could open several doors for Alpine from a commercial perspective, with the Latin American market tipped to become the team’s ‘new goldmine’.

Perez enjoyed considerable support from a portfolio of Mexican sponsors throughout his F1 career before being replaced by Red Bull at the end of the F1 2024 season.

Speaking last October, before Red Bull’s decision to sign Liam Lawson as Max Verstappen’s new Red Bull team-mate, Carlos Slim, the president of key Perez backer Escuderia Telmex, left the door open to a potential deal with Colapinto in the future.

He told ESPN:“We have been with many drivers many times.

“We were with Bruno Senna, we were with Pietro Fittipaldi and we were with the two Mexican drivers, with Checo and with Esteban [Gutierez].

“If there was an opportunity to talk about something with Franco, it would not be anything related to Checo.

“We always seek to support Latin American drivers, Franco is doing very well.”

Slim went on to insist that Telmex will maintain its ties to Perez despite his uncertain future.

Perez made his first public appearance since vacating his Red Bull seat in a press conference in Leon, Mexico, last week, revealing that he will take six months away before deciding whether he wants to pursue a return to F1.

The Guadalajara-born star, the most successful F1 driver in his nation’s history with six race victories and 39 podiums to his name, will turn 35 later this month.

Perez told reporters in Leon: “My priority is to enjoy myself, to do things I haven’t done, to be with my family.

“In the next six months, I will make a decision on what I want for the next step in my career.

“It’s too early to give an answer as to whether I intend to return to Formula 1. Everything happened very quickly at the end of last season, I didn’t expect to leave the team.”

“My biggest motivation now is to take my children on a good path and be more present in their lives.

“I am very excited to be with my family because in F1 you only think about being a better driver, preparing yourself better, you don’t have time for anything else.”