As far as it concerns Jack Doohan, it seems Alpine has finally snapped up Argentine Franco Colapinto but only as a reserve driver for now – probably on loan from Williams I guess that covers just 2025 rather than a permanent deal. Update: It seems he’s onboard on a multi-year deal then, so that means he’s under Alpine now rather than Williams unless Williams inserted some clause in his contact if and when Carlos Sainz Jr. or Alex Albon leaves at some point.
He was under the radar of Flavio Briatore for some time who was impressed by his driving ability when he was unexpectedly a replacement driver for Logan Sargeant at Williams late last season – despite the fact he crashed out during the last 2-3 races of the year that cost them additional money for repairs. At the same time though, Alpine has already sorted out a replacement for Esteban Ocon which was Jack Doohan over Mick Schumacher. But then once the Colapinto hype has begun over scoring points, Flavio thinks he has other ideas to keep him in F1 at his team.
In case you missed it, Flavio likes having someone who has raw pace & can score points, as Colapinto is the one he thinks can form a formidable part for his Alpine F1 team’s masterplan. That means, we will need to get behind Jack 100% so he can score as many Top 7-8 points as possible for the first few years of the new year, especially with the home Australian race being his first shift around the corner.
If not, he could be sacked right on the spot unfortunately after the Miami Grand Prix as per rookie contract clause. Flavio wouldn’t mind making wholesale changes midway during the season when one isn’t doing so well, even though he’s only the team’s executive advisor (a la Director of Football role) to Renault’s boss Luca De Meo rather than being Team Principal.
15th on debut isn’t bad for Jack to be honest at Abu Dhabi having been thrown into the deep end after Esteban Ocon decided to sit out the season finale in order to begin his next ride with Haas early for pre-season testing. But again, he has to be a good match to Pierre Gasly who has been doing the heavy lifting as their No.1 driver as of late, especially with the upgrades working well in their favour.
Now Jack may not have the same capabilities as his compatriot Oscar Piastri but he has scored points and podiums before at junior formula level.
There’s absolutely no reason why he cannot be able to make the most out of his time at the highest level when there’s only 20 odd spots fighting for competition and Jack being the only guy not doing well knowing he might not make it to full season with Franco ready to return to Formula 1 through the gifted help of Briatore by taking over Doohan’s seat if things don’t work out after the first odd races.
So his full support is very, very crucial in the hope of scoring Top 10s almost every race and if he can do that, then there shouldn’t be anymore pressure throwing against Jack & we could see the very best of him by the time Alpine becomes a customer team to Mercedes in 2026.
