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One of Franco Colapinto’s sponsors has ignited speculation he will return to a Formula 1 race seat following an unguarded remark during a live interview.

Horacio Marin, CEO of Argentinian energy firm YPF, was asked on news channel A24 when its driver would make his “debut.” The interview concluded after he originally responded “I don’t know”, but a microphone picked up Marin adding “in Imola” moments later.

Imola will hold the seventh round of the season, following this weekend’s race in Miami.

Colapinto already made his F1 race debut for Williams last year, at the Italian Grand Prix. He has long been rumoured as a potential replacement for Jack Doohan, who has started six grands prix for Alpine.

A “debut” for Colapinto at Imola might not involve him taking over Doohan’s race seat. Alpine could give him an outing in one of the practice sessions at the Italian track.

Ordinarily, teams only do this with drivers who have started no more than two grands prix and therefore count towards their quota of rookie appearances in practice sessions. However Alpine has already replaced Doohan for one session this year without it counting towards that quota, when Ryo Hirakawa drove in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka earlier.

Doohan is yet to score a point in his first season of F1. His experienced team mate Pierre Gasly achieved the team’s only points finish so far this year at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

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Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes previously described speculation over Doohan’s future at the team as “not fair”. The team’s executive consultant Flavio Briatore is rumoured to favour promoting Colapinto, who scored five points over his nine appearances for Williams at the end of last season. Colapinto has already taken part in tests of Alpine’s older cars along with fellow reserve driver Paul Aron.

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