The ongoing turmoil consuming Alpine and McLaren has sent the Formula 1 rumour mill into overdrive.
Drivers far and wide have been linked to vacant seats in 2023 with two Aussies finding themselves right in the thick of it all.
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But now another Australian has emerged as a surprise bolter to nab the currently vacant Alpine seat for next season.
After Fernando Alonso bolted out the door from Alpine in the dark of night to sign with Aston Martin, the French outfit announced Oscar Piastri as their man.
Those plans lasted less than 12 hours with Piastri burning that offer and leaving the seat wide open.
Piastri’s signing with McLaren saw Daniel Ricciardo’s contract with the Woking-based team cut short and he was then linked to Alpine.
Alpine, formerly Renault, used to be home to Ricciardo but the Aussie isn’t reportedly the number one target with Frenchman Pierre Gasly said to be on top of the list.
As the saga drags on and the rumours come flooding in, the latest centres around rising Aussie Jack Doohan and links him as a serious threat to nab the Alpine seat.
Doohan is fresh off a Formula 2 victory at the Belgian Grand Prix and former F1 driver Marc Surer believes he could swoop in and usurp Ricciardo.
Surer also put a line through any potential pairing of Gasly and contracted Alpine driver Esteban Ocon due to a simmering rivalry. A notion Ocon recently shut down.
“Two French (drivers) together, it cannot work,” Surer told the F1 Nation Podcast.
“I think they already have a history racing against each other. It will not work well but for Alpine it should not matter if they like each other or not.
“For me, after what happened, Alpine could take Jack Doohan or somebody, like an upcoming star.
“Maybe we have a surprise. We just watched him in Formula 2 and think he’s improved a lot. He’s in a good way.”
As the Formula 1 world awaits the outcome of Piastri’s contract fiasco, with both Alpine and McLaren holding valid contracts for him in 2023, Doohan could cash in during the latter stages of the current season.
Piastri is currently Alpine’s reserve driver, but simmering tensions between the driver and team could see them sever ties earlier and promote Doohan into the mandatory reserve driver practice sessions.
Even if Alpine are announced as holding Piastri’s rights for 2023 by the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board, it’s more likely than not he’ll still end up driving for McLaren.
Ricciardo’s future remains up in the air with the latest series of driver rumours on further clouding just where the eight-time Grand Prix may land.
For Doohan however, the rumours are only getting better after he saluted during the F2 feature race in Belgium.
Doohan, who is the son five-time MotoGP champion Mick, started fourth on the grid in Spa before an excellent start propelled him to second spot by the first corner.
The 19-year-old executed an undercut on Felipe Drugovich, which allowed him to jump ahead of the F2 championship leader.
Drugovich surged in the dying stages but Doohan did enough to hold on for victory — his second podium of the weekend after he finished second in Saturday’s sprint race.
“Felipe obviously had really good pace and we were able to stay close though, not really drop away,” Doohan said after the race.
“We were both extending the stint and it seemed like you know, our pace was quite similar. “They were saying that the overcut could be possibly stronger, but I decided to do the opposite and box.
“I knew I gathered good tyre temp on the way to the grid, I pushed hard – I wasn’t expecting there to be so much overcut but it was.”
