Claim made that big Jack Doohan decision 'already taken'
Is the writing on the wall for Jack Doohan? An F1 winner thinks so.
Ex-F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes Alpine have already taken the decision to replace Jack Doohan with Franco Colapinto.
Pressure is already mounting on F1 rookie Doohan to retain his seat before his first full season has even begun following Alpine’s decision to bring in Colapinto as a reserve driver for 2025.
There have been suggestions that Doohan could be replaced by Colapinto - who caught the eye during a surprise stand-in cameo for Williams towards the end of 2024 - if the Australian fails to perform in the opening races of the new season.
Alpine’s F1 executive advisor Flavio Briatore insisted Doohan will start the campaign alongside Pierre Gasly, but has not ruled out the possibility of a driver change at some point in 2025.
And Montoya is among those who is convinced the swap is inevitable.
“The difficult thing about Doohan is that from the outside it seems like the decision has already been taken,” Montoya told AS Colombia. “I think it will happen.
“I think Formula 1 saw how important [Colapinto’s popularity] is and Formula 1 in the background is already helping for that to happen.
“That is super interesting! We were talking about the opportunities at Alpine, the drivers in the academy, the drivers in F2, in F3, very good drivers!
“Franco was at Williams, in the Williams academy and suddenly has a chance to race now. Now, none of those drivers in F2 will get the seat, it will be Franco.”
Doohan finished 15th on his F1 debut at last season’s finale in Abu Dhabi as he replaced Esteban Ocon, who vacated his seat prematurely ahead of a switch to Haas.
Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes has stressed Doohan will get a “fair crack” to impress in his rookie F1 campaign.
Colapinto and Doohan’s head-to-head test
Colapinto recently had his first on-track outing for Alpine at Barcelona, as revealed by a video Briatore uploaded to his Instagram account.
Both Colapinto and Doohan got the chance to pilot Alpine’s 2023 car, the A523, as the team conducted some TPC running.
While specific details of the test were not released by Alpine, it is likely the French outfit will have compared Colapinto and Doohan’s lap times.
Colapinto is expected to be first in line to take Doohan’s seat if he fails to deliver.
While Alpine continue to insist they aren’t planning to make a swap, Briatore isn’t afraid to make brutal calls.
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