Earlier this week, Alpine announced its Formula 1 driver academy plans for 2022 and welcomed Australian Jack Doohan to its programme.
Jack, son of motorcycle racing legend Mick, will compete in Formula 2 this year with Virtuosi Racing after ending the 2021 Formula 3 campaign in the runner-up position.
Doohan has also switched his F1 affiliations, having been associated with Red Bull since 2018. The energy drink squad runs a brutal yet rewarding-for-some programme, and has promoted several drivers to F1 during its existence.
But Doohan sees a better career path with Alpine, confirming when asked that he had a straight choice between Red Bull and Alpine for the year ahead. The 20-year-old says that the structure of the Alpine academy was more exciting for him, and led him to part ways with Red Bull.
“[The difference is] the layout of the programme and what it’s going to do for me to become a better driver,” he said “Obviously Red Bull had that, but if it was the same I wouldn’t have moved. I don’t want to touch on that too much, but there was just a really good path for me to actually become a better driver regardless of the end goal, to learn as much as possible and get valuable time that you can’t get anywhere else and that I hadn’t been getting.
“It’s coming to a point where it’s make-or-break in Formula 2 and there’s nothing really to go back on, so I had to make the decision what I wanted to do to become a better driver, and Alpine was that.
“In my limited time with the programme already I’m enjoying that a lot and I honestly can’t wait to continue to build and build the relationships, because I’m obviously still a very fresh face and everyone else is a fresh face for me too, but at the moment everyone’s amazing and I’m enjoying being here a lot.”
While Alpine will have just two drivers in F2 this year between Doohan and fellow academy newcomer Olli Caldwell, Red Bull will have five competing to impress. With less direct competition in one of motorsport’s most challenging categories, Doohan believes it will work to his advantage.
“I think five drivers is a lot in one category. So I think regardless of how big the line-up is going to be, I think I’m in a really good place and I’ve definitely chosen the right step for the next point of my career,” he said. “And also with two drivers, we get matching support for only us two to get information out of, instead of there being five drivers wanting that same influence. So I think it’s definitely an advantage rather than a disadvantage.”
Although Alpine has had a number of respectable junior drivers associated with its academy in recent years, it is yet to promote one to its own F1 outfit, with 2021 F2 champion Oscar Piastri forced to take on a reserve role with the team this year.
But despite Alpine’s lack of F1 promotions, Doohan believes that he’s in the best place to develop as a driver, which may lead to a seat in F1 with the French manufacturer or elsewhere.
“Oscar will get his opportunity but if you’ve won a championship or come close to then it’s not just Alpine but other F1 teams are going to be looking at you as well,” Doohan said. “They’re giving us the opportunity to then progress forward and be able to become a professional at what we do. I think that’s the main part of it, becoming a better driver going forward, whether in F1 or like Christian [Lundgaard] in IndyCar and [Guanyu] Zhou as well went to Alfa Romeo.
“I think there’s a lot of people that say ‘Yeah but they haven’t had someone promote into the Formula 1 team’, but everyone that’s been in Formula 2 or their programme, you can’t diss them that they aren’t a good driver or they haven’t grown while they’ve been here.”
