F1 hopeful confident 2024 programme will put him firmly in ‘silly season’ mix

Alpine youngster Jack Doohan is confident his experience of driving an F1 car will put him in the mix once the “silly season” begins in earnest.

Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari looked like the surprise early start to the F1 silly season but for now at least, things have quietened down on the driver market front.

But with 12 still out of contract at the end of the year, that chaos will pick back up as the year goes on and Doohan is hoping to be a name in the mix.

Alpine’s Jack Doohan hoping to be F1 2025 contention

Doohan has served as Alpine’s reserve driver since last year and after a number of years in their academy and F2, the Australian is one of many young drivers hoping to make the leap up to F1.

While Doohan has not been able to win F2 like other F1 hopefuls such as Felipe Drugovich and Théo Pourchaire, he has had plenty of time in an F1 car which he hopes will put him in good stead.

“Outside of the current F1 grid for a driver who hasn’t driven a race in F1 I’m definitely the driver with the highest mileage in the machinery,” he told Motorsport.com.

“And that’s not over one lap, that’s race distances, in the wet, in the dry, high temps, low temps. So I’m starting to see it all, which is really good and for sure only appealing to F1 teams.

“For me, the sole focus at the moment is trying to secure my place on the grid for next year, while also making sure I’m doing the job in these tests because they’re very important as well.”

As for when he wants to be on the grid, the 21-year-old has targeted the 2025 season.

“I’m absolutely determined,” he said. “That’s the plan, and that’s also the plan with myself, [Alpine Motorsports VP] Bruno [Famin] and the team.

“At the moment, I have a long contract with Alpine. So I want to be here. I’ve worked with the team now for three years.

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“Everyone is a familiar face, we have a good connection, it’s a good atmosphere, there’s a good team morale with us all, so to be able to hop in the car would feel like home. So I look forward to hopefully doing it.”

Both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are out of contract at the end of the year but the former hinted talks were already going on behind the scenes to extend his stay.

“It’s an ongoing process and we have had conversations,” the Frenchman said.

“I think it’s going to start going crazy after a couple of races or maybe it did already.

“Obviously as a driver, I’ve got my team to do this type of job. I’m focusing on what I’ve got to do as a driver because ultimately that’s what I want to do. I want to perform, I want to give my absolute best, I want to do my absolute best for the team.

“500 people worked day and night to get that car as good as they can and then my job is to bring it to further up the grid as I can so it’s what I focus on.”

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