Alpine F1 team pushed 21-y/o driver not to race in 2024 amid ‘really good’ offers

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Jack Doohan says Alpine ‘especially’ pushed the Australian ace against racing in 2024 to ‘fully focus’ on only being the Formula 1 team’s reserve driver after two years in F2.

The 21-year-old will continue as the Enstone outfit’s understudy this year after first securing a back-up role to Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in 2023. But Alpine let Doohan split his time in their garage and simulator with attacking for the Formula 2 title at Invicta Virtuosi Racing.

Doohan finished sixth in the 2022 F2 standings during his first full season following a cameo towards the end of 2021 with MP Motorsport. But staying with Virtuosi for 2023 let the son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan take third place on 168 points with three Feature race wins.

Alpine pushed Jack Doohan only to be their 2024 Formula 1 reserve driver

Sauber junior Theo Pourchaire won the 2023 F2 title with 203 points after only one Feature race win. Mercedes protégé Frederik Vesti finished as the runner-up with 192 points having won two Feature races and four Sprint races. Just Doohan achieved a hat-trick among them.

Doohan took pole position, set the fastest lap of the race and won F2’s Feature event at the 2023 Hungarian GP. He pipped fellow Alpine junior Victor Martins to pole by 0.052 seconds at the Hungaroring. Vesti and Martins joined the Queensland native on the podium, as well.

Jack Doohan feels he can break into F1 in the ‘very near future’

But Doohan will not return for a third full season in Formula 2 in 2024. He and Alpine agreed that a year acting as their reserve driver will now better prepare the 2021 Formula 3 silver-medallist for a potential Formula 1 race drive. Doohan feels he is close to getting an F1 seat.

Doohan has told Speedcafe: “I had quite a number of really good options for next year, in all championships under Formula 1, which was great.

“However, myself and the team – especially the team – they want me to just fully focus and be on-site, be in the sim and try and make the most of being a Formula 1 [reserve] driver, which inevitably will help me, hopefully, when I can get a seat in the very near future.

“If I was racing in another championship, I just wouldn’t be able to have that full clarity on that role.”

Jack Doohan could replace Pierre Gasly or Esteban Ocon in 2025

Doohan could secure his graduation to Formula 1 with Alpine in 2025 as Gasly and Ocon are both out of contract after the 2024 season. A year only acting as their reserve and simulator driver therefore hands the Australian a chance to fully understand the Renault-owned team.

Alpine will also hope Doohan learns from a year on the sidelines in the same way that Oscar Piastri did. The 22-year-old spent 2022 in the Alpine garage after winning the Formula 3 title in 2020 and Formula 2 crown in 2021. Now, he is a fully-fledged Formula 1 star for McLaren.

Piastri left Alpine to replace another Australian in Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren last year. The Melbourne native even became the first rookie since Lewis Hamilton with the Woking team in 2007 to claim multiple Grand Prix podiums. Piastri even won the Sprint at the 2023 Qatar GP.