Alex Albon has drawn upon his own personal experiences to advise Jack Doohan on how he can still salvage his Formula 1 career despite losing his drive with Alpine.
Doohan was six races into his rookie campaign in F1 when Alpine intervened and decided to drop him to promote Franco Colapinto to the seat alongside Pierre Gasly.
Likewise, Albon was condemned to a spell on the sidelines when Red Bull opted to demote him to a test and reserve role at the end of his sophomore season in 2020.
However, the Anglo-Thai racer was given a chance to return with Williams in 2022 and he has since rebuilt his reputation to now be on a multi-year deal with the team.
Albon, who was among the drivers who lambasted Alpine’s choice to make a change, believes Doohan has the right attitude to rebound from his premature dismissal.
“I know Jack is a hard worker,” Albon told media including Motorsport Week.
“I’ve seen the work that he was putting in last year in the simulator and doing a good job with the test programme.
“He’s very committed as an individual. I don’t think he needs any more motivation than he has.
“More than anything, it’s just dig his heels in, get stuck in and try to prove yourself.
“It’s always really difficult. I know that position of trying to prove yourself, but you’re not driving the car.
“I don’t know what programme Alpine have given him, but I’m sure he’s already going to be doing as much as he can to help the team to progress.
“I think that proving yourself without driving is a very difficult, immensely tough position to be in, but I think he has it in him.”
The inspiration Doohan can take from Albon
Albon recalled how he used his time without a permanent seat to review his F1 stint with Red Bull to ensure he avoided enduring the same fate a second time around.
The current Williams driver has urged Doohan, who has continued to attend races, not to harbour “resentment” towards Alpine and to use the demotion as motivation.
He added: “Also, really trying to understand in the races that I did compete in, where was I weak? Why was I weak?.
“You can self-reflect after my first stint in Red Bull and think about when and if I come back, what am I going to improve on myself and be better at?
“There are things you can do. In terms of proving yourself to a team point of view, there’s a lot of simulator work. It’s just generally being involved.
“It would be very easy and obvious to pull away from a team in a position like that and feel resentment or whatnot, but you have to be the bigger person and raise yourself to the challenge.”
READ MORE – Alex Albon urges Franco Colapinto to ‘ignore’ initial Alpine five-race F1 deadline
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