Jack Doohan promised ‘fair crack’ as Alpine boss talks Colapinto ‘options’

Jack Doohan will race for Alpine in F1 2025
Despite rumours his Alpine days are numbered, Oliver Oakes insists Jack Doohan will be given a “fair crack” at retaining his Alpine seat ahead of Franco Colapinto.
Doohan was confirmed as an Alpine F1 driver back in August, with the team announcing that the reserve driver would replace the Haas-bound Esteban Ocon in the F1 2025 championship.
Jack Doohan will start the F1 2025 season with Alpine
However, almost from the get-go there was speculation about his contract. Speculation that ramped up earlier this month when the Enstone team signed 2024 super-sub Franco Colapinto.
The Argentinean driver made a big splash last season when he was called up by Williams to replace the ousted Logan Sargeant and scored points in two of his first four races.
Linked to Red Bull, and not the junior team, two big crashes at the Brazilian Grand Prix, including one behind the Safety Car, were followed by shunts in qualifying for the Las Vegas GP and a DNF at the opening corner in Qatar.
Red Bull lost interest before Alpine picked up Colapinto for the 2025 season, but signed him as a reserve driver as they’d already confirmed their 2025 line-up of Doohan and Pierre Gasly.
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His arrival though, has upped the ante for new signing Doohan given just days before the Colapinto announcement, Alpine’s executive director Flavio Briatore refused to guarantee the Aussie a full season in the A525.
“The only thing we can be sure of is death,” he told Le Parisien. “We’ll start the year with Pierre and Jack, I can guarantee that. After that, we’ll see as the season progresses.”
But while it’s Briatore’s comments that threw the fuel on the fire, Alpine team boss Oliver Oakes believes the speculation about Doohan’s future has been unfair on his new signing.
“It’s been a little bit harsh on Jack, some of the stuff that was written by the keyboard warriors there, and he’s getting his fair crack at it,” he told the James Allen on F1 podcast.
“And I think the intention there isn’t to put [pressure] on his shoulders. It’s genuinely to give the team options further down the line.
“And for me F1 is fine margins. There’s a load of people who are depending on a driver to deliver each weekend, and we need to make sure we’ve got the best drivers in the race car, not just now, but also in the future.”
As for Colapinto, Oakes claims the 21-year-old blighted his copybook by trying too hard last season as he chased an F1 2025 race seat.
“I think Franco made a great first impression with Williams. I think it was clear to see that he probably tried a bit too hard at the end there,” he said.
“How much of that was the situation he was in, where he didn’t have a seat confirmed and was trying to over-impress, and how much of that was a compromise on parts on the car, that’s hard to calculate. But I think the crux is he made a strong impression with the speed he showed.”
But in Colapinto and his fellow reserve driver, Paul Aron, the future is looking bright for Alpine.
“For us as a team it’s great to have that roster of two young drivers in Paul and Franco there waiting in the wings, because it’s not just about 2025; 2026, 2027 is around the corner, and it’s hard in F1 to plan what’s going to happen and what drivers you’re going to have to go in the car,” said Oakes.
“For us, it just keeps everyone honest in terms of how they’re performing and gives us options.”
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