Alpine signs Doohan & Caldwell to F1 driver academy for 2022

Caio Collet and Victor Martins retain their spots in the academy for a second season, while Alpine has signed Jack Doohan and Olli Caldwell.

Doohan joins on the back of an impressive F3 campaign where he finished runner-up to Red Bull-backed junior Dennis Hauger.

He becomes the second Australian to join the Enstone-based outfit’s junior programme after Oscar Piastri.

Doohan will make the jump to F2 for 2022 with Virtuosi Racing.

Caldwell also makes the move to F2 after finishing eighth overall in F3 with one victory to his name.

The 19-year-old will drive for Campos Racing after driving for the Spanish team in the final two rounds of the 2021 F2 season.

Collet remains with MP Motorsport in F3, while Martins switches to ART Grand Prix for 2022.

All four will be hoping to make the step up into F1 in the future with former academy driver Guanyu Zhou securing a full-time seat with Alfa Romeo, while Piastri will act as Alpine’s official test and reserve driver for the year.

Speaking of the news, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi said: “The Alpine Academy remains an extremely valuable part of what we want to achieve in Formula 1. We are passionate about finding the next generation of racers to nourish our F1 driver line-up.

“It’s exciting to see the growing strength of the programme since it was started in 2016, with last year being its most successful season to date. Of our 2021 graduates, Oscar joins our Formula 1 programme as the team’s official Reserve Driver, and he has an important role alongside Esteban and Fernando this year.

“We also only need to look down the Formula 1 paddock and across to IndyCar to see two more of our Academy graduates from last year, which is a testament to the structure of the programme to prepare drivers for senior series. As with every year we have high expectations for our Academy and it’s no different heading into this season.

“We welcome two new drivers, Jack and Olli, combined with the returning Formula 3 duo of Caio and Victor. Each brings their own personality and talent and we are excited to see how our drivers develop this season, individually and as a group.”

The new F2 and F3 seasons get underway on March 18-20 as support races to F1.