Pre-season testing has finished and the 2025 Formula 1 season is just around the corner.
The Australian Grand Prix plays host to the first race of the campaign and Alpine driver Jack Doohan will be hoping to impress in front of his home crowd.
Oscar Piastri has already warned Doohan about the dangers of his home race, but the youngster might need all the support that he can get.
Doohan was called up at late notice to replace Esteban Ocon for last season’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Although Jolyon Palmer described Doohan’s debut as ‘difficult’, there were plenty of caveats that should be taken into account.
His qualifying run was compromised and while he only finished P15 in the race, he was slightly unfortunate to finish that far away from the points.
Not only that, but almost every other driver on the grid was vastly more experienced in their cars than Doohan was – aside from Franco Colapinto at Williams.
Colapinto is once again the driver putting Doohan under pressure after being signed by Alpine over the winter.
Doohan may only have a short-term Alpine contract and may already be fighting a losing battle impressing the people in power at the Anglo-French team.
Flavio Briatore reacts to question about Jack Doohan’s Alpine future
A report from the Swiss outlet Blick has shared more details about Doohan’s future.
Talking about pre-season testing, they explained that Pierre Gasly set a quicker fastest lap than Doohan, although very little can be read into that due to the nature of the three days of running in Bahrain.
One journalist asked Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s chief advisor, how long Doohan has left in the team.
They reported that Briatore – in the view of Colapinto – simply looked at his watch which may not be confirmation of anything but isn’t the most subtle hint about his feelings towards the two drivers.
READ MORE: Who is Alpine F1 driver Jack Doohan? All to know from his girlfriend to dad
Oliver Oakes refused to confirm Doohan’s long-term presence within the team making it even more unlikely that he’ll be with the team at the end of the season.
Ultimately, Doohan has to make it impossible for Alpine to drop him with his performances.
While the other rookies on the grid will be given time to get up to speed, he has to be putting Gasly under pressure immediately to show why he was initially promoted into Ocon’s position.
David Croft tells Alpine what Jack Doohan message they now need to send after testing
The 2025 season is the final year of stability before the regulations change and the pecking order of the grid could be completely mixed up.
Alpine have already made one key decision for 2026 as they will stop using Renault power units and become a Mercedes customer team.
However, many of the other teams on the grid have changed their line-ups for this season with the intention of retaining their drivers going into the next ruleset.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage
If Alpine want to be on a level playing field with the likes of Williams, then they need to commit to Doohan or Colapinto now.
David Croft has told Alpine what they need to say publicly about Doohan to try and relieve some of the pressure on the 22-year-old.
Unfortunately, it seems very unlikely that they’re going to give him that much-needed public vote of confidence.
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