Jack Doohan sends message to Esteban Ocon after early Alpine exit triggered

Jack Doohan expressed his gratitude to the driver he replaces from Abu Dhabi, Esteban Ocon, as Alpine tackle the season finale with a clear mission.

Ocon’s Qatar Grand Prix did not go beyond the first lap, the Alpine driver hit by Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg which would force his retirement. And, as it turns out, this was Ocon’s final race as an Alpine driver.

Jack Doohan ‘stoked’ to debut in Abu Dhabi

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Ocon will be a Haas driver from F1 2025 and in Qatar, rumours soon began to emerge that Ocon would not be in the Alpine A524 for Abu Dhabi, the final round of F1 2024.

Ocon added further weight to that when he spoke to the media, including PlanetF1.com, saying: “I would like to thank the team for their hard work over this race and their hard work over the whole year.

“When it’s going well, it’s good to stick together. But when it’s not going so well the engineers and the mechanics stick together and that’s the most important thing.”

And confirmation duly came that Ocon is out for the final race, allowing him to represent Haas in the post-season test, while Ocon’s replacement, Australian Jack Doohan, comes in to make his debut ahead of schedule.

Doohan, who had been serving as Alpine reserve, does already have some F1 race weekend experience under his belt, having made six FP1 appearances for the team over the past three seasons.

And taking to Instagram to react to the news, Doohan posted: “Stoked to be racing in Abu Dhabi this weekend for my debut grand prix.

Crunching the numbers on the Qatar GP data

👉New Qatar GP data creates fresh Norris controversy over yellow flag deployment

👉Qatar GP conclusions: Sainz exposes Hamilton with FIA under severe scrutiny

“Grateful to Alpine F1 team for the trust and for giving me this opportunity. Also very grateful to Esteban who I’ve learnt a great deal from over the last two years. He’s been beneficial to my learning and development in Formula 1 and wish him the best for his future.

“Focused on the job in hand this week and working with Pierre to help the team achieve its objective.”

And that objective for Alpine is to secure P6 in the Constructors’ Championship.

A three-way scrap to secure that position will take place in Abu Dhabi and it is advantage Alpine as they hold P6 going into the race. However, Haas are in hot pursuit, the gap only five points, while VCARB remain in the mix just 13 points back from Alpine.

Read next: Esteban Ocon ‘conspiracy theory’ shared by Sky F1 pundit in early Alpine exit