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Pierre Gasly

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Formula 1, Alpine-Renault and Jack Doohan: From his 22nd Birthday to first day back at work this week in Enstone

by Sports Benches

This week was a huge week for Alpine-Renault’s No.7 Jack Doohan from celebrating his 22nd birthday the other day to turning up straight at work aka pre-season duty for his first seat fit in Enstone with a new-look hair cut. 

I guess he will want to go a bit more faster then who would want to stick what worked well him in the past – probably to match his personal best on raw pace through one lap, especially when it comes to a full race weekend which is very important for Jack.

Then there’s him stopping by at the office with the man currently running the show that knows about the history of Enstone all too well even though he’s not really Team Principal these days – Flavio Briatore.

Looking forward to the new car reveal soon (A525 chassis) + pre-season testing while Jack is on it working hard every day & always be in the points soon with Pierre.

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Thoughts on Flavio Briatore finally securing Franco Colpainto onboard but initially as reserve driver that puts Jack Doohan under all sorts of pressure at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches

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.

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Formula 1: A new year with the home Australian GP next up for Jack Doohan to deliver results in a bid to keep his ride after a year of testing/track work at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches

The first day of the new year (2025) also sees the first start season for Alpine’s new driver Jack Doohan from the Gold Coast in Queensland. He does look a bit like Alex De Minaur from Tennis by the way albeit with a much younger age difference than him and also has the natural Grand Prix roots that stems from his dad’s legendary two-wheel motorcycle career in Mick. 

He’s coming off a huge 2024 on the reserves for the most part where he’s been clocking hundreds and thousands of track work on top of his unexpected season-ending debut at Abu Dhabi last month and now it’s up to Jack to deliver right from the word go ahead of his home Grand Prix in Melbourne (Albert Park) come March. 

At the moment, he’s under the watchful eye of Flavio Briatore, even though he isn’t the Team Principal nowadays. However, he is still tasked to turn around Alpine’s fortunes at this same Enstone place he held several times before through Benetton in the 90s and Renault for most of the 2000s, and yet he’s not taking any prisoners for any excuse or emotion if Jack or even Pierre does not deliver at least the first few races of 2025. 

There’s a reason why Flavio has been sniffing around Franco Colapinto despite him crashing out the last few races of 2024 when he was thrown into the deep end unexpectedly for the axed Logan Sargeant at the time & scored a few points on offer with Alex Albon at Williams. 

But let’s hope that isn’t the case as it’s a long time coming for Jack who is the first Alpine F1 Team Academy driver to race for them following a sound Formula 2 & 3 career at junior level. With that being said, scoring Top 7-10 finishes would be a great start then work his way towards being Top 3-5 over time – even with a Mercedes engine if he does stay after this season.

That’s all we want from the 21-year-old who will do whatever it takes to forge a successful long-term relationship with Alpine’s Team Enstone, having seen Enstone witness Renault’s stunning 2005-06 championship campaign led by Spaniard & still racing Fernando Alonso. Keep an eye out for him with testing next month before it’s lights out and the way he goes in a bid to build on his 15th-placed debut finish by turning into a pattern of Top 10 points like Gasly did through the 2nd half of 2024. Best of luck to Jack & his new No.7 race number that looks so good on his A525 Alpine-Renault chassis.

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Thoughts on Jack Doohan finishing 15th on debut with Pierre Gasly’s another amazing finish led to Alpine ‘s incredible 6th place in the Constuctors’ Standings

by Sports Benches

First of all, it’s been a whole new learning curve weekend for one of our Aussie drivers Jack Doohan who was unexpectedly been handed a Formula 1 debut for Alpine-Renault at Abu Dhabi.

Yes, he may have ran towards the bottom end of the fastest lap times over the first two days in both practice and qualifying, even though he was on pace with his team-mate Pierre Gasly at one time during the Final Practice hour early Saturday. 

For those fans who weren’t impressed with him so far, this is his first few steps into the deep end & remember, he doesn’t have the best racing record unlike others who have won series titles prior to F1.

Especially when there were rumours floating around Jack being replaced by Franco Colapinto from Argentina just because he did a brilliant job when he came on unexpectedly for the underwhelming Logan Sargeant at Williams a few months ago while he also has deeper pockets his own sponsorship funding. 

Plus, he hasn’t been that good over a series of crashes as of late anyway – so why risk all of this when you got Doohan who is the first Alpine Academy driver to now race an Alpine Renault in F1? No matter what happens, he will always be grateful for that moment as we’ll see what happens after a few races in early 2025 with his performances since Jack only has a one year contract.

But at least, he was able to bring his car home all in one piece despite being a lap down in 15th. Surely there will be more to come from Jack ahead of his home race at Albert Park in Melbourne come March 2025 and let’s hope he will be able to score points over the next of his few races from here in order to keep his seat.

For now, shoutout to new team-mate Pierre Gasly on another amazing finish in 7th 10th in Drivers’ Points to remember after a long 20 + races to close it out this year off the back of his excellent start.

Okay, he might not be able to catch up with the front runners as the race goes on but hey, that was at least enough to hold off Haas for 6th in the Constructors’ Championship. Glad to hear Alpine is gonna get that huge hey day money they wanted after their Brazilian double-podium jackpot from one month ago.

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Thoughts on Alpine back to 6th in the Constructors’ Championship following Pierre Gasly’s Top 5 run in 5th at Qatar

by Sports Benches

Who would’ve thought Alpine unlikely to finish 6th in the Constructors’ Championship after their huge Brazilian double podium jackpot a few weeks ago?

Thanks to the upgrades being done on Pierre Gasly’s race car, this was made possible, especially on the dry after he had a brilliant drive to pull off his car home in 5th place. 

Now Alpine has re-taken 6th in the teams’ spots over Haas by a five-point gap and as long as they hang in there by the finish line for next weekend’s finale at Abu Dhabi, then surely that would mean so much when it comes to the $$$ & everything. 

Sure, wish they could keep their own engines that is expected to end in one year’s time but at least, more can be used to make Alpine be more competitive.

And off the back of Esteban Ocon’s recent frustrations with the team lately, he may as well leave Alpine a bit early now to join his new team Haas right away for post-season testing ahead of the 2025 season.

That would open the door for our Aussie Jack Doohan to make his Formula 1 race debut in an Alpine not too long from now rather than March 2025 at Albert Park in Melbourne. First of all, it’s great seeing another Aussie on the grid which is things you love to see. Yes, his racing record may not be the most glamorous but has scored podiums and race wins before. Sure, he will look at 7th-10th placed finishes for a start and go from there alongside Pierre.

For now, another brilliant show from Alpine this time on the dry under the lights from Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

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Thoughts on Jack Doohan might not be making his Formula 1 debut for Alpine next year as they’re after Argentine driver Franco Colapinto from Williams

by Sports Benches

I’ve seen Alpine making enough mistakes already but this might not be the last one just yet as they’re sreportedly on the lookout for a bit more established driver ahead of next season. Now wait for it but Alpine is after Argentine Franco Colapinto to replace the already announced rookie Jack Doohan to partner Pierre Gasly.

First of all, great job to Franco on what has been a stunning immediate impact since he recently replaced the underperforming Logan Sargeant 1-2 months ago for Williams. As we all know though, Williams are currently stuck with three good drivers with two cars going into next year unless one of them goes out. 

So far way before the eventual axing of Sargeant, Carlos Sainz Jr. has already signed there for a multi-year contract from Ferrari while Alex Albion also extended his deal there earlier this year.

And also the last remaining F1 seat over at Sauber which would soon be under Audi’s works team for 2026 has just been taken yesterday by Brazilian Gabriel Borteleto – which will effective end the long-running career of Valtteri Bottas from Finland.

Likewise with the engine, they don’t look to be so serious when it comes to their driver academy program – having fumbled this over and over again like it was two years ago with now McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. It would be a bit of surprise if Doohan does not get the chance to make his Formula 1 debut just because they saw a better driver than him in Franco Colapinto. Also, if they want him right now, then they would need to pay $20 million to get him out from Williams – that’s a lot of money there without them thinking where they want to go from here.

Again, they should improve their car first and most importantly their engine – even if they do use Mercedes engines at some point. But despite their huge Brazilian Grand Prix lucky break from last weekend where both cars finished 2nd & 3rd, here we go again to see Alpine make yet another big change in none other than Franco instead of Jack – if that turns out to be true.

Hoping I’m wrong though that appears to have so little legs & also hoping that Franco will end up within the Red Bull teams too rather than having to sit out for one year – either at the main squad to replace Sergio Perez or even at the sister Visa CashApp RB squad alongside Kiwi Liam Lawson will do it, with Yuki Tusnoda getting the chance at their senior squad with the current 3 x champ (soon to be four if he can hold off McLaren’s Lando Norris in the coming weeks) Max Verstappen.

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Thoughts on Alpine F1 Team finishing both 2nd and 3rd at the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix

by Sports Benches

We haven’t seen the best of Alpine this year until now at a wet and wild Brazilian Grand Prix where they’ve got both cars on the podium on what has been a great day from Team Enstone & of course Renault – Esteban Ocon 2nd as could’ve been first if it wasn’t for that string of recent yellow flag crashes with Pierre Gasly 3rd. 

Don’t know when the next best thing will come as Renault will no longer make engines after next season but maybe they should’ve just kept the engine and poach Dallara away from Haas to design and build the cars for them.

For now, rare moment there from Alpine just now with both cars on the podium.

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What if Alpine F1 Team via Renault kept their engines but have Dallara take over its chassis contract for 2026 in Formula One like in F2/3?

by Sports Benches

Okay, there’s no way everyone from the powers at Renault/Alpine can be swayed to change their minds, having recently decided to be a customer team one month ago that will take effect from 2026. 

Yes, no engine switch announcement just yet but they’re still widely expected to use Mercedes engines.

It’s a shame after Renault made their own Formula 1 engines for nearly 50 years but no secret though that their recent engine that dates back from the hybrid era from 10 years ago hasn’t reaped any championships at all – not even a few odd wins here & there was enough to justify their latest failures when comparing to Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and even Honda.

If there’s one thing Alpine could’ve saved that engine for sure and that’s when if they’d rather stop making their own chassis by luring Dallara over to prise that big chassis contract away from Haas. 

That way, Dallara would help them out with the chassis & in turn Alpine still gets to keep making engine whose 2026 version will unfortunately go unused & be put into waste behind closed doors.

What does it mean for Haas since they’re now technically tied-up with Toyota? They can always find another chassis builder to replace Dallara or get Toyota to do it while Haas can still use Ferrari engines.

There’s 1-2 already out there in the form of a Formula 2 and Formula 3 car where Dallara manages the chassis and engineering side of things while the engine is still at the heart of Mecachrome – a French engineering company who has close ties with Renault/Alpine. 

Imagine if there’s a carbon copy of this Dallara/Mecachrome F2 car being made into F1 together but used only for Alpine? 

Maybe at least that would help them improve in some way to be a decent midfield team at best if not running Top 3 in the long-run to meet their so-called 100-race plan.

Also, it would be easy enough for someone – who is so well used to driving this Formula 2 car – would go on to have an easy transition into Alpine’s F1 team if hired, with this Dallara made Formula 1 car alongside Renault’s engine in it.

Australia’s own Jack Doohan (son of 5 x 500cc world champion Mick Doohan) is a great example who had some success with the Dallara F2 car over the last 1-2 years, even though he may never have won a championship so far in his career. 

He is set to be promoted to Alpine F1’s squad ahead of their final season as a works partner for Renault next season alongside Pierre Gasly on a one-year deal, so not a lot of time. But if he impresses and gets to stick around for a second year, then surely he’d thrive big time.

If the powers at Renault see this, hope this would be worth considering if they can keep the engine but let someone else handle the chassis side of things at the hands of Dallara like they always do together in Formula 2 & 3. But in the real world, they’ll just move on as Renault might start making Formula 1 engines again if these next PU rules make sense. 

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Formula 1 News: Thoughts on Renault still wanting to abandon its own 2026 engine project by becoming a customer outfit to Mercedes-Benz for their Alpine F1 Team

by Sports Benches

Last week, Alpine officially signed our Aussie Jack Doohan as a full-time driver to the replace the Haas-bound Esteban Ocon next season alongside Frenchman Pierre Gasly. But we still don’t know what’s going to happen beyond 2025 when the new engine regulations come in and Renault – who manages Alpine – still wishes to abandon their engine project to cut costs, so they can use Mercedes as one of their privateer teams rather than continue being a fully fledged factory team.

If they really wanted to be a customer team, it’s going to be weird when a big car company like Renault via Alpine makes their own sports cars on the road but not for Formula 1 as if they’re running Lotus or Aston Martin. 

I don’t recall a single thing about Alpine working with Mercedes on a road car project before. Although they’ve did work with Caterham and Lotus for a brief time before, but then neither of those joint venture projects came out because there’s less competition to produce and get back in this small sports car market.

What Renault should’ve done is to just sell off Alpine to Andretti if they didn’t really want to run a team that isn’t their own engine. However, we still don’t know when they will finally admit that they can no longer run a Formula 1 team should they become a customer team to Mercedes.

As it stands for now, they are not keen on selling even it’s for a billion dollars when Formula 1 currently enjoys running 10 teams to maximise & protect its financial value rather than thinking anything expansion to let Andretti-GM in.

All we can hope for Renault is to get a supportive OEM partner to help finish off the project like IImor or Mecachrome in the hope of closing their rivals upfront by competing for regular podiums and victories again. If not, they can finish this off by themselves in-house if they really want to for the best of Renault given their long history of racing in Formula One.

That will be a huge ask though as hoping Alpine doesn’t succumb to its complete collapse at some point and Jack would then have to find another ride or at least admit they can’t compete in Formula 1 anymore, and a new team like Andretti or Hitech can come take over Team Enstone where this place was the home to many World Championships back in the 90s and early-mid 00s.  

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Thoughts on Australian Jack Doohan son of former 500cc World Champion Mick now set for his big break in Formula 1 next year with the Alpine F1 Team alongside Pierre Gasly

by Sports Benches

This is the moment we’ve been waiting for all year long as the Alpine F1 Team have finally settled their 2nd seat to replace the Haas-bound Esteban Ocon today for their upcoming 2025 Formula One Season alongside Frenchman Pierre Gasly and it’s none other than our Aussie own Jack Doohan from the Gold Coast, Queensland. His big announcement today won’t impact Alpine’s future plans that much in the meantime going into the new engine rules era from 2026 at Enstone when it’s looking more and more likely now that they will ditch their own Renault engines by becoming a privateer outfit with Mercedes-Benz. 

Then it remains to see what happens after that if Alpine still wants to be a Formula 1 outfit after 2026 as they could either be morphed into Hitech since Oliver Oakes has just taken over the Team Principal job at Alpine or else Andretti can take over for at least $1 billion dollars & they can finally race Formula 1 when the sport doesn’t feel confident about expansion at this time.

Great to hear that Alpine has made an excellent choice by bringing Doohan into a full-time race seat where he might not have collected a season championship so far in his career but he too can do well across qualifying and race day with a few wins under his belt as proved in Formula 3 and Formula 2 in the past. Don’t forget he’s also the son of former legendary 500cc motorcycle Grand Prix champion Mick Doohan as sure he has the family racing calibre to make his mark albeit at the different highest levels of Motorsport in four-wheels of Formula 1 rather than two-wheels which is MotoGP.

Yes, Mick Schumacher was also in the mix having also took part in a top-secret test recently for Alpine alongside Doohan where they were both family friends for a long time with Mick being named after Jack’s dad while Jack was given a go-kart by Mick’s dad Michael who won so many World Championships throughout his career as hope is all well with him following his unfortunate skiing accident a decade ago.

But again, even though Mick first came into F1 with the Formula 3 and 2 championships, he didn’t set the world alight when he was at Haas a few years ago & if he wants to go back at the top-level again, then taking the risk at Audi which is currently Sauber in the short-term under Ferrari engines would be his last best hope ahead of its big break in 2026 with fellow German Nico Hulkenberg.

At the end of the day, it’s up for Doohan to score regular Top 7-10s with some podiums or even 1-2 wins onboard since there’s only 20 Formula 1 seats to battle upfront nowadays. Let’s hope he does well with our best backing from Australia as he will be the third driver there on the grid alongside McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and also Racing Bulls’ Daniel Ricciardo if Riccardo can keep his ride within the Red Bull family next season.

Depending on Sergio Perez’s performance later this year, we could see Ricciardo going back to Red Bull again or else he will be given the flick with NZ’s Liam Lawson getting a full-time ride after all in Ricciardo’s current spot at Racing Bulls.

Looks like F1 is growing across the Trans-Tasman in both Australia and New Zealand with as many as four drivers on the grid and with Doohan, it remains to be seen which race number he could take ahead of his F1 race debut next season.

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