Alpine junior Jack Doohan thinks he’s ‘pretty close’ in pace to two F1 drivers

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Alpine Academy prospect Jack Doohan believes he is ‘pretty close’ to Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon across a single flying lap as the Australian targets their Formula 1 seats.

The 20-year-old has enjoyed chances to get behind the wheel of the Alpine A523 F1 car in recent weeks. Doohan took over Gasly’s seat in first practice at the Mexico City GP before he replaced Ocon in Abu Dhabi. Alpine also kept him on at Yas Marina for the Young Driver Test.

Alpine have even put Doohan through an extensive test programme in old-spec cars, as well as driving in two FP1 sessions over 2022. His experiences in the A523 helped the Formula 2 race-winner to post the seventh-best time of the post-season test, which is also a Pirelli test.

Doohan feels ‘100%’ ready to be an Alpine Formula 1 driver

Doohan had a best time of a 1:25.038 as he put 108 laps of Yas Marina Circuit on the board. Ocon had the best time of the day with a 1:24.393 over 110 laps as he carried out the Pirelli tyre test. Doohan’s best time in FP1 last Friday was a 1:26.865, just behind Gasly’s 1:26.720.

Lapping Yas Marina Circuit just 0.145 seconds slower than Gasly has convinced Doohan that he is now ready to secure a full-time F1 drive for Alpine. He also doubled his time last week with the final round of the Formula 2 season, which he dominated to win the Feature Race.

“Yes 100%,” Doohan declared, via quotes by Motorsport-Total. “At the moment, I seem to be pretty close to the two main drivers over a fast lap. We showed that in the first free practice session. I was only a little more than a tenth behind Pierre in our two runs on the soft tires.

“I think for me now it’s about getting that last half [a] tenth. Whether it’s working with the tyre guys or even the aero guys, I just try to maximise the little things, especially with tyre management. It’s different to what I know from Formula 2.”

Doohan rejected Alpine’s interest in a 2024 WEC and Le Mans campaign

Doohan enjoyed two seasons in Formula 2 as part of the Alpine Academy after joining their development programme. But he is now eager to focus solely on a future Formula 1 seat at the Renault-owned constructor. Even if the Australian has had offers to race in other series.

“I’m now trying above all to leave Formula 2 behind me and make this my working window, my new base,” Doohan added. “At the moment, I don’t have any races planned [for 2024].

“I’ve had quite a few opportunities outside of Formula 1 – in Super Formula, IndyCar [and] Hypercar. I’ve been very lucky to have these opportunities.”

Reports by Motorsport.com earlier in November claimed that Alpine were exploring a 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign for Doohan. The French manufacturer return to the top class of the series in 2024 with their first true Hypercar effort after skipping 2023.

Alpine had contested the Hypercar class in 2021 and 2022 after taking over the LMP1 car of Rebellion. But they dropped down to LMP2 for 2023 whilst building a fully-fledged Hypercar for the 2024 season. Alpine have also signed Mick Schumacher to drive one of the two cars.

WEC will boast a record-breaking 13-car Hypercar field for the 2024 Le Mans 24 Hours, with Alpine, BMW, Isotta Fraschini and Lamborghini signing up. But Doohan will not feature after Alpine confirmed Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin plus Schumacher as their six full-time drivers for the full WEC season.

Doohan will now likely spend 2024 on the sidelines as Alpine’s reserve driver behind Gasly and Ocon. The six-time F2 race-winner – including four Feature races – also served the role in 2023. Alpine only have Gasly and Ocon under contract until the end of the 2024 season.