Franco Colapinto's seat at Alpine could be retained if he can find his feet in the latter half of the 2025 season.
The Argentine driver, who replaced Australian rookie Jack Doohan on a "rotating seat" basis, has yet to score any points for the Enstone team since debuting at Imola.
It is understood that Colapinto is now driving on a race-by-race premise, with Alpine hoping he finds the confidence he had when making his team debut at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
On his struggle with confidence in the A525, he said:
"It’s been getting better, but it’s something that we are still finding how to get even better at it. If I just go backwards, I feel Imola has been almost my best weekend,” he said.
“It’s the first time I drove the car in a long time, the first time I drove the A525, the first time I was working with the team.
“It doesn’t really feel right, you know, my best moment, the closest to Pierre has been in my first race, so we are just trying to understand why. What’s the reason for that, and why I started to lose some confidence."
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Why have there been so many rumours?
Following Colapinto's crash during a Pirelli tyre test, there have been increasing rumours that Alpine are considering replacing him with another driver.
Mercedes reserve driver Valterri Bottas has been tipped to step in as his years of experience could provide a more accurate review of the A525's abilities.
Alpine reserve driver Paul Aron, who topped the time sheets at the tyre test in Hungary, was also rumoured to have been in contention for the seat.
But it seems that Alpine have given Colapinto more time to gain confidence and deliver results for the team, who sit last in the constructors.