Photo: Alpine
Alpine has decided upon making Formula 2 racer Jack Doohan its Formula 1 reserve driver for the 2023 season.
Doohan is one of the Alpine’s juniors and he impressed senior team members at the end of last year when he made two appearances in F1 practice sessions at the Mexico City and Abu Dhabi grands prix.
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer confirmed at the time that Doohan would continue in F2 for a second season and that “his focus will be to win the F2 championship”, but said the team was undecided on whether to make him its reserve.
Doohan’s F1 practice opportunities had come about as part of the fallout of then-reserve driver Oscar Piastri and his manager Mark Webber orchestrating a move to McLaren for 2023.
Piastri had been set to conduct the two practice sessions that F1 teams have to give up to drivers with less than two grand prix starts to their name, but once Alpine became aware he had signed with McLaren it ended his active role in the team.
It was settled shortly after that Doohan would take on the practice role instead, but Alpine took several months to publicly confirm it and has also taken its time in its decision to make him its 2023 reserve.
After finishing sixth in the F2 standings with Virtuosi Racing in his rookie season, which featured three pole positions and three victories, Doohan will stay with the team for his sophomore campaign.
Pre-season testing for F2 took place at Bahrain this week and Doohan was seventh fastest overall.