Aussie rising star Jack Doohan could get his first spin in modern F1 machinery this weekend during free practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Doohan, the son of motorcycling legend Mick, is now the Alpine driver academy’s most senior prospect after the sudden defection of fellow Australian Oscar Piastri and is enjoying a standout maiden full-time campaign in Formula 2, where he’s fourth in the standings.
According to Autosport, Alpine is set to reward his efforts this season by using him for both its mandatory rookie practice outings. He’ll replace Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon once each as per the rules at this weekend’s round in Mexico and at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of the year.
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He’ll also be engaged in the final round of his Formula 2 campaign in Abu Dhabi, meaning he’ll have just 100 minutes after F2 practice to prepare for his F1 outing, and then just 30 minutes later he’ll be back in his Virtuousi Formula 2 machine for qualifying.
Doohan has been one of the Formula 2 season’s highlights in his first full-length entry after back-to-back second-place finishes in the F3 Asian Championship and FIA Formula 3.
He’s currently fourth on the title table behind the much more experienced champion and runner-up, Felipe Drugovich and Theo Pourchaire respectively, and he’s in contention to snatch third place off fellow full-time rookie Logan Sargeant, who will race for Williams in Formula 1 next season if he finishes his F2 campaign in the top five.
The 19-year-old has also already undertaken several private tests with the team in 2021 F1 machinery in a sign of his standing in the academy.
He was briefly in the frame for a sudden promotion to Formula 1 next season as Alpine scrambled to replace the departing Fernando Alonso. He was also reportedly considered for a loan deal to Williams before the British marque decided to promote its own junior to the seat next year.
With the door to F1 appearing closed for 2023, Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer said Doohan now has the chance to consolidate his progress into a strong sophomore Formula 2 season.
“Jack‘s immediate focus needs to be on winning the F2 championship next year,” he said. “We’ll support him through that process and help him along the way and give him some time in a car as well to prepare him for Formula 1.”
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However, the current contractual situation at the Formula 1 team points towards another bottleneck if he were to claim the F2 title in 2023.
Both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are under contract in 2024, which means a loan deal would be Doohan’s only route into the sport.
“Now that we‘ve secured both drivers for next year and the year after, we’ll start thinking more seriously of our young driver program and what to do there,” Szafnauer said. “We’ll start looking at that now that we’ve gotten through this step.”
The Piastri situation, which might end up bearing resemblance to Doohan’s scenario if he wins next year’s championship, has forced Alpine to consider the value of its driver program.
Its two most successful prospects, Piastri and Zhou Guanyu, won’t make their F1 debuts for the French team, while Christian Lundgaard has left Europe altogether to pursue an IndyCar career.
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi said earlier in the year that the entire fracas was making him seriously reconsider his investment into a junior program given its lack of returns.
“I’m not sure therefore I want to continue training those drivers, or I’m going to have to lock them in with a contract that might not be appealing to them,” he said, per The Race.
“Now we’re really wondering whether or not [to continue] beyond the current batch of drivers that we have and with whom we’re going to honour until the end our obligations, as we have multiyear plans with them.”
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Ironically the final phase of Piastri’s messy exit from the team is what’s delaying confirmation of Doohan’s next steps in the program, including his practice outings, according to Autosport.
Piastri was set to complete the team’s allocation of rookie test days as part of his preparation for a 2023 debut before he switched to McLaren.
His deal with Woking isn’t due to commence until 2023, and though Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer suggested earlier in the year that an early release was possible, McLaren now doesn’t expect to get access to him until after the end of the season at the earliest and is instead using IndyCar drivers for its rookie practice runs.
