Jack Doohan is on the verge of a deal with the Alpine Formula 1 team that will see him race alongside Pierre Gasly next year, Autosport has learned.
In the wake of Carlos Sainz’s decision to turn down an offer from Alpine and instead join Williams, the French manufacturer team has been evaluating its remaining options for next year.
Sources have indicated that it has elected to promote reserve driver Doohan, who is the son of five-time 500cc motorcycle world champion Mick.
Although it is understood that a final contract has not been signed yet, it is suggested that the formalities will be completed imminently and an announcement could even come before F1 shuts down for the summer break.
Doohan has been a contender for a 2025 Alpine seat for a while, but has faced an uncertain few weeks with new F1 team advisor Flavio Briatore having made a pitch for Sainz.
Had the Spanish driver accepted, then the door would have been closed for Doohan, who appeared to have no other options to make the step up to F1.
But Sainz’s decision to go elsewhere, on top of ongoing promise that Doohan has shown driving F1 machinery, has left the team confident the Australian is the right man to get a race seat.
Doohan’s chances have also not been hurt by the arrival of new team principal Oliver Oakes, who he has raced for in the past at Hitech.
Promotion to an F1 seat will justify the decision that Doohan made to join the Alpine young driver programme in 2022, having been part of Red Bull’s junior team from 2017 to 2021.
Doohan felt that Alpine could offer him more testing opportunities, which began originally with the team’s previous-specification cars, but included a run of current F1 venues such as Losail, Monza, Hungaroring, Zandvoort, Paul Ricard and Spa.
He has also competed in six FP1 sessions for the Alpine team in Mexico, Abu Dhabi, Canada and Silverstone.
Doohan has been testing an A524 car at Spa-Francorchamps this week for a Pirelli tyre test, replacing the unavailable Esteban Ocon.
Should Doohan’s promotion get confirmed, it would likely mean there will be three rookies on the F1 grid next year.
Haas has already confirmed that it has signed Oliver Bearman, while Mercedes is expected to promoted Andrea Kimi Antonelli to become George Russell’s team-mate.
