Paul Aron to Make FP1 Debut with Alpine, Replacing Franco Colapinto

Paul Aron is set to make his debut in the first free practice session for Alpine at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend.

The 21-year-old Estonian driver, who finished third in last year's Formula 2 championship, will replace Franco Colapinto in the first practice session at Monza on Friday.

Aron is Alpine's reserve driver and has already participated in two FP1 sessions this season with Sauber at the British and Hungarian Grands Prix.

He also shared a session with Colapinto during Pirelli's tire test at the Hungaroring last month.

Aron will be one of two rookie drivers taking part in the first practice session at Monza, along with Alex Dunne from Ireland, who will be driving for McLaren.

Dunne, who currently sits fifth in the F2 standings, impressed during his first F1 practice session with McLaren in Austria, finishing fourth.

Aron's FP1 outing comes amid uncertainty over Colapinto's future with Alpine.

Colapinto has yet to score a point since replacing Jack Doohan at Imola.

Recent criticism from Alpine's executive advisor, Flavio Briatore, has further fueled doubts over Colapinto's position.

However, the Argentine driver enjoyed his best weekend of the season with an 11th-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Colapinto's performance earned rare praise from Briatore.

'Starting from outside the points, we took some risks to try and maximize our chances of scoring points,' Briatore said, adding, 'With Franco, he drove very well, probably his best performance of the season so far.' '

Colapinto commented: 'We were close to scoring points as a team today. The race required us to be constantly on our toes and ready to seize any opportunity. I felt I was driving well and, at the finish, it was my best finish of the season.'

'As a team, there are some parts of the race that we will evaluate to see what we could have done better. We decided to pit with soft tires at the end of the race during the last Safety Car to try and attack the cars in front for points. We were close, but just missed out at the end of the race.' '

'There are many positive things to take from the weekend. Our performance in Qualifying improved, I felt more things on my side improved, and I hope to return to Monza next weekend, where I made my F1 debut last year.'