Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes has claimed the outfit is happy with Formula 1 rookie Jack Doohan amid growing speculation he could be replaced by Franco Colapinto.
Doohan has had to face media scrutiny from the moment he stepped inside an Alpine F1 cockpit for the first time as a Grand Prix driver in Abu Dhabi last December.
It all stems from Alpine senior advisor Flavio Briatore’s continued interest in the team’s recently signed reserve driver, Colapinto.
Doohan is yet to score points and a high-profile crash in Suzuka has heaped even more pressure on the Australian, but Oakes has reiterated his support.
“We know there’s a bit of unrest around Jack’s position, but he’s working well,” Oakes told Sky Deutschland
“So far it’s been ok. He’s staying calm and focusing on himself.
“There are a lot of rumours about Franco, but at the moment we’re happy.”
Doohan’s FP2 crash, where he failed to close the DRS, was a clear and obvious error and no doubt shook the Australian’s confidence in Suzuka, contributing to a 19th-place finish in qualifying.
It’s the type of performance that won’t help Doohan’s cause, and Oakes admitted that in F1 “You always have to decide what’s best for the team.
“Every driver in Formula 1 has to perform. They know that.”
Doohan recovered on Sunday to finish 15th, making more ground in the order than any other driver, and he heads to Bahrain this weekend to a circuit he has far greater experience.
Schumacher unconvinced by Doohan
Despite Oakes’ rallying cry around Doohan, former F1 race winner turned Sky Deutschland pundit Ralf Schumacher isn’t convinced.
“[Doohan] makes a lot of mistakes and is not fast enough,” he said.
“One more thing happened this week. Ryo Hirakawa, who got into the car in the first practice session, was directly on par with Pierre Gasly.
“He gets in and makes this fatal mistake. This will be analysed from the team’s point of view.
“At the moment, he is overwhelmed by the situation. The team will sit down with him and I am curious to see what happens.
“He’s not sure he’ll be at the next race.”
Any uncertainty surrounding Doohan is directly linked to Colapinto, who joined Alpine as a reserve driver from Williams at the start of the year.
The reason is that all parties involved in the Argentine’s career, including Williams, who has effectively loaned Colapinto, believe his past opportunity to land a race seat is with Alpine.
Colapinto was in an Alpine F1 car last weekend at Monza, conducting TPC [Testing of Previous Car] duties in Italy.
Whether that is a sign of things to come is unknown, with the likelihood being the TPC outing was a mere exercise to put Colapinto through his paces and provide some data insights for Alpine to compare its old charger with its contemporary runner.
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