Jack Doohan told he has to ‘drive out of skin’ to keep F1 seat

Jack Doohan has been warned he will have to “drive out of his skin” to retain his F1 seat with Alpine during the 2025 season.

The 22-year-old Australian is heading into his first full F1 season having been promoted into a race seat alongside Pierre Gasly to replace Esteban Ocon, who left the Enstone squad to join Haas.

But Doohan already finds himself under pressure following Alpine’s decision to sign Franco Colapinto from Williams to become their new reserve driver.

There is speculation Doohan may only be on a short-term deal with Alpine, potentially giving the team the freedom to make a driver change if he doesn’t perform.

Colapinto is known to be highly thought of by Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore, who warned Doohan he will “control” every aspect of his career in the latest season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive.

And 1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve believes Doohan will be expected to at least match Gasly’s level of performance.

“Jack Doohan is under a lot of pressure because he’s been an extra driver for too many years doing testing and so basically not racing,” Villeneuve told YaySweepstakes.com.

“Not racing for long there's always the risk that you might lose your mojo and you become complacent so that's a little bit difficult. The race he did last year at the end of the season wasn't impressive. You know you get one race at the end of the season you have to be a bit tougher.

"It wasn't impressive when you put him under that pressure so it will be good to see how he reacts to that pressure now. I hope it goes well. You know he's a nice guy. He's passionate. He's been working hard at it for a long time. He's prepared himself and it would be a shame if all this preparation came to nothing.

“He has to drive out of his skin. He has to be at the worst on Gasly’s level. Like, not even behind, on his level. Like, a few hundredths in front or behind, but just there, at worst. And he actually needs to beat him.”

Colaptinto has ‘no pressure on shoulders’

In contrast, Villeneuve does not think Colapinto would face the same level of pressure if he was swapped in for Doohan at any point this season.

“Franco Colapinto came in with a bang, then did a little bit too much damage and tarnished it a little bit after the initial positive image he earned, but he's still viewed as a super quick driver. He is there trying to take one of the two seats, obviously,” he said.

“He's the one that has no pressure on his shoulder so it cannot go bad. He's in the slowest car you know so it won't matter too much if he beats the competition, that would be a wow, what a surprise. If he doesn’t, people won’t really mind.

“He needs time to learn so it won’t do any damage to him. He’s the one with the least pressure on his shoulders which should allow him to learn and perform.”

On Briatore, Villeneuve added: “It's a different team now. It's really difficult to understand the politics, the balance, but Flavio Briatore is there to clean up and everybody's at risk.”