Alpine bosses Flavio Briatore and Oliver Oakes should end speculation over Jack Doohan’s future by confirming that his seat is safe for the entire F1 2025 season.

That is the claim of Sky F1 commentator David Croft, who believes reserve driver Franco Colapinto should be made to “wait” for his “turn” alongside Pierre Gasly.

Alpine told to back Jack Doohan amid Franco Colapinto rumours

Doohan was confirmed as Esteban Ocon’s replacement at last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, four days before Colapinto took Logan Sargeant’s place at Williams for the final nine races of 2024.

With Williams already committed to fielding Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon for F1 2025, Colapinto’s impressive performances saw him linked with a number of teams before he was appointed as Alpine’s new reserve driver last month.

James Vowles, the Williams team principal, claimed at the time that a move to Alpine represents Colapinto’s best chance of returning to a race seat, potentially as soon as this year.

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With Doohan’s contract widely reported to cover only the first few races of the season, it has been speculated that Colapinto could graduate to a race seat within weeks.

Briatore, the controversial former team boss who returned to Alpine as an executive adviser last year, has frequently indicated that he will not hesitate to make a change if necessary.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at last week’s season-launch event in London, however, Doohan revealed that he has been reassured that Colapinto is the team’s reserve driver.

PlanetF1.com understands that Doohan’s continued participation in the new season will be dependent on performance, as is the case with every other driver on the grid.

Speaking during live commentary of pre-season testing in Bahrain, Croft called for Briatore and team principal Oliver Oakes to publicly back Doohan for the the season, insisting the Australian needs more than five races – rumoured to be the span of his initial 2025 deal – to prove that he is worthy of a race seat.

He said: “As it stands, Franco Colapinto is the reserve driver.

“Jack Doohan said this at the press conference at F1 75: ‘Look, I’m contracted for the year. He’s the reserve driver, I’ve got my seat.’ That’s how it should be.

“Flavio Briatore and Ollie Oakes need to come out and say: ‘Jack’s our man for the year.’

“Do that and all the speculation stops.

“Let’s see what happens with that one, but I do feel very sorry for Jack that before he really gets going, his seat’s already under threat.

“He says: ‘I understand it because of the position that I was in. I wanted to get into that seat and there’s nothing wrong with Franco wanting it.’

“But you’ve got to wait your turn on that one.

“I think, if someone’s got a contract, let them prove they can do it or not do it – but that’s not five races. You need more.”

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Doohan made his F1 debut one race early at the final race in 2024, competing in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after Ocon parted company with Alpine.

The Australian qualified 20th and last at Yas Marina, more than half a second behind Gasly, before finishing a lapped 15th on race day.

Croft has leapt to the defence of Doohan, claiming the rookie was told to stay out of trouble on his debut and insisting that the results offer no reflection of what he is capable of.

Put to him that Doohan will start the F1 2025 season at his home race in Australia, Croft said: “Everyone’s saying: ‘Enjoy it while it lasts, Jack, because that’s it. You won’t get another one.’

“I think this is poor on Jack. I’m going to stand up for Jack Doohan. He doesn’t need me to stand up for him, but I’m going to.

“I thought he was really unlucky in Abu Dhabi.

“If you look at the first runs in qualifying, he was a tenth off Pierre Gasly – and I don’t think there’s any disgrace in that whatsoever.

“He then got sent out into traffic and, having to let other cars pass, his tyres cooled down, didn’t have the grip channel and didn’t get out of Q1.

“He didn’t have the tyres up to the right temperature and therefore started way down, lower than I think he was going to.

“The instructions to him were: ‘Just bring the car home. Keep it safe and bring the car home.’

“What looked like a really poor drive was just [him] doing what the team asked him to do, but that’s the benchmark that we judge Jack Doohan on because that’s the only grand prix that he’s had.”

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