Esteban Ocon’s departure from theAlpine at the end of the season he inevitably freed up a seat in the Enstone team, which in 2025 I will see the presence of the Australian though Jack DoohanThe 21-year-old Australian, son of five-time MotoGP world champion Mick, will thus support Pierre Gasly, completing a growth process that began in 2022, when he joined the Alpine Academy after a previous experience in the Red Bull Junior Team.
The Call
Formula 3 runner-up in 2021 and Alpine’s third driver since last year, Doohan has taken part in six FP1 sessions from 2022 to today, until confirmation of his move to the role of official driver, made official in Zandvoort but with the promotion communicated some time before: “The Monday before the test at Spa I was coming back from a dinner and I received a phone call – the Australian said in the presentation press conference – my father was next to me and I was told that next year I will be the driver. Obviously I had not signed the contract yet, but I was very happy. I never let my mind get to the point that I would not have this opportunity, otherwise I would have already felt defeated. I believed in this opportunity from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep. I think every interview I have done this year has started with a risk, that of taking a year offwith the potential disadvantages that this entails.”
Tests and the risk of the gap year
3rd in the 2023 F2 championship, Doohan has in fact interrupted his activity in the cadet category, focusing exclusively on his growth in Alpine by taking part in various tests, including the one carried out at Paul Ricard together with another candidate for the 2025 steering wheel such as Mick Schumacher: “I just thought about giving it my all and riding as fast as I could, regardless of who was next to me. – he added – After the first quarter of this year I realized there was a fight, so I realized I had to be very patient, fight for my time, and plead my case. I am grateful that the patience has paid off.as well as not competing, because it is a risk. But potentially, If I hadn’t taken this risk, none of this would have happened“.
Daddy Mick
Doohan is now ready for the big leap into F1, which was also made possible thanks to the great help of his father Mick: “I think he has me only mentally driven – he declared – There were difficult moments, when I knew my future was obviously out of my control, and others of waiting, in which he assured me that he was positioning myself in the right way, and he himself has a very rich experience in this respect”.
The next goals
For Doohan, a new adventure begins in a team that is encountering great difficulties in this championship, but the Australian strongly believes in the project aimed at bringing the French team back to the top: “The most important thing is to bring Alpine back to the topand we’re putting all the right people in place to do it – he added – we are doing what we have to do taking the risks and opportunities that come along. Taking a rookie can be a risk, but I think this can do great things for the team, with a new face, a young and determined guy. I think this will help a lot the mechanics and everyone else in the factory to make sure that everyone finds themselves, that motivation and morale are high and that everyone takes another step forward. Me and Pierre We aim to ensure that we create a great atmosphere throughout the team and have a collaborative relationshipbecause right now the only goal is to do the best job possible on the track, but also to take the team higher. To do that we need to work together and have a great collaborative relationship to make sure we maximize our performance, but also that of the car, in order to move forward”.
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