Duen's return behind the wheel of the Alpine F1 was called off.

      Jack Duen raced in six rounds for Alpine at the start of the season, after which he was replaced. Officially — due to insufficiently high results, but in fact — team principal Flavio Briatore was very keen to put Franco Colapinto behind the wheel and bring in his sponsors, which is what happened. Colapinto’s results proved no better than Duen’s — except that they have no points in the current season.

      According to The Race, before and after the summer break Alpine F1 offered Duen a return to the cockpit for the last three rounds — in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi — but only if he could find funding. Jack and his sponsors found the money, but the return did not take place.

      The reason was one of Colapinto’s sponsors, the brand Mercado Libre, which extended its contract to the end of the season on the condition that their driver would stay.

      Duen still considers a seat at Alpine the preferred option for 2026, although Briatore said the decision would depend on agreements with Colapinto and reserve driver Paul Aron. In addition, Duen was barred from participating in tests behind the wheel of previous years’ cars; after his dismissal he raced only in junior-series cars at his own expense.

      Duen spoke with representatives of Cadillac, Williams, Haas and Sauber, but most likely he will spend 2026 as a reserve and test driver for one of the teams with minimal chances of getting behind the wheel.