Alpine has completed its line-up for the 2025 Formula 1 season. The French team has put forward 21-year-old Jack Doohan as successor to Esteban Ocon, who has to leave partly due to his tense relationship with Pierre Gasly and will seek his fortune at Haas next year. Alpine considered several drivers for the vacant seat and had set its sights on Carlos Sainz in particular. The outgoing Ferrari driver could choose between Alpine, the Audi project and Williams, but as is known, he chose the latter option. As a result, Alpine has focused on its own junior program, also because training its own talent would otherwise be a waste of money.
“I am so pleased to have secured promotion to a full-time race seat with Alpine in 2025 and am very grateful for the confidence shown by the team’s management,” said Doohan, who has been the team’s reserve driver for the past two years, of his future F1 debut. “It is extremely satisfying to be the first graduate from the Alpine Academy to secure a race seat with the team and I am extremely grateful to everyone who has supported me in making this a reality. It is an exciting moment, a proud day for my family and I am looking forward to soaking it all in and working hard behind the scenes.”
Alpine had both Doohan and Mick Schumacher test at the Paul Ricard circuit earlier this year, a test that many interpreted as a shoot-out in case Sainz would leave Alpine alone, although the team denied that. The test was completed in the A522, the team’s 2022 car. In that car, Doohan is completing an extensive test program this year in preparation for the Formula 1 adventure, a test program that started in Zandvoort. In the Dutch dunes, Doohan also prepared for what is now official: “I am convinced that I meet all the requirements that I need to meet and I feel potential when I am in the car. I feel there is no reason why I should not be given a chance next year,” Doohan was outspoken in an interview with Motorsport.com. Doohan has already completed two free practice sessions this year in Canada and Great Britain and will be in the 2024 car more often later this season, including at the young driver test in Abu Dhabi.
Michael Schumacher’s first kart
With the announcement that Doohan will make his Formula 1 debut next year, his long road to the premier class has been successfully completed, albeit with some delay. The son of the highly successful motorcycle racer Mick Doohan started karting at competition level in 2012, and it is worth noting that he received his first kart from his neighbour and seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher. After two Australian karting titles and a sixth place in the 2017 world championship, he made the switch to car racing a year later. Doohan finished second in Formula 3 in 2021 and took P3 in the Formula 2 rankings two years later. That was not enough for an F1 seat right away. Doohan had to take a seat in the waiting room and is serving as Alpine’s official reserve driver this year, although he does not have his own racing programme.
It was a conscious decision to put everything on his Formula 1 dream and to look behind the scenes for an entire season. In combination with the test program in the 2022 car, Doohan already explicitly focused on the vacant seat for 2025 in Zandvoort. “Alpine has invested a lot in me and they have also given me many opportunities. I feel like I am fast in a Formula 1 car and I can show nice things, so I would like to repay Alpine and take the next step together with them. I think it is good to have a youngster like me in the team, someone who is hungry and driven and who perhaps has a different view on things within the team.”
