While Ralf Schumacher has voiced his belief that Jack Doohan’s “days at Alpine are rather short”, the Alpine rookie put his and Pierre Gasly’s pace as “quite similar” after the first two races of F1 2025.

The arrival of Franco Colapinto as Alpine reserve had seemingly put Doohan under pressure before the season had begun, but the rookie has been positive about his first two outings of the 2025 campaign.

Jack Doohan: Me and Gasly ‘quite similar on pace’ after first two races

Former Williams, Jordan and Toyota driver Schumacher is of the belief that Doohan is not long for his stint at Alpine despite being only two races into the F1 2025 season.

“I almost have the feeling that this decision was made before Flavio Briatore was there,” Schumacher told Sky Germany.

“It’s a forced marriage and I don’t have the feeling that Briatore thinks much of him.

“He doesn’t cover himself in glory and makes a lot of mistakes. He seems a bit out of his depth with his actions. I think that his days at Alpine are rather short.”

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As for Doohan himself, however, he spoke optimistically about how his opening weekends have panned out in Formula 1, even though he and Alpine appeared to be off the pace in China.

With Gasly being his main barometer for performance, the young Australian believes he has matched up well with his more experienced team-mate so far.

On top of that, he added the top figures within Alpine have been “super happy” with his early showings in 2025.

On his and Gasly’s relative performance so far, Doohan said after the race: “I think, on average, we’re quite similar – especially on one-lap pace, plus or minus a tenth, depending on the session.

“So there’s a lot of positives to take forward. I just have to refresh myself, fill in the driver guidelines, so I stop having any issues.

“I think for me, there’s a lot of positives. We haven’t had that result quite yet to really show it, but the inner circle understands that, and I think that’s what’s most important.

“The guys are super happy in the team, for sure. Flavio [Briatore], Oli [Oakes], Luca [De Meo], our backers, they’re going to be wanting points.

“So when the car is going to get there, we’re going to have to have to make sure that we’re on it to ensure that we can maximise that.

“But for now, we’re going to have to keep working, keep our heads down, and hopefully Suzuka is a better track for us.”

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