Alpine sign former Mercedes protege as F1 reserve

Alpine has announced that former Mercedes junior driver Paul Aron is to become their reserve driver from the 2025 F1 season.

Alpine's current reserve driver Jack Doohan has been promoted into a race seat alongside Pierre Gasly after Esteban Ocon opted to depart Enstone for Haas. 

Aron, who is currently racing for Hitech in F2, is in with an outside shot of the title in his debut season, but is 34.5 points behind leader Gabriel Bortoleto. 

Hitech is the team formerly run by new Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes. 

Estonian racer Aron was signed to the Mercedes junior programme in 2019, but departed in 2023, and has now signed with Alpine as F1 reserve.

"It’s incredibly special to be joining Alpine," said Aron. 

"It is clear that this is a great place to be for any young driver and I’m really pleased that Flavio [Briatore] and Oliver [Oakes] have given me this opportunity. 

"Before 2025 and the hard work that will come with being the team’s Reserve Driver, I have a Championship to focus on for the remainder of this year and I will be giving it my all to compete for the title.

"I'm looking forward to really beginning the work and continuing my career pathway in motorsport."

Executive advisor Briatore added that Alpine was looking forward to "developing" Aron into an F1 driver.

"We are very pleased to have Paul join Alpine as our 2025 Reserve Driver," he said.

"There is a generational shift in Formula 1 at the moment, as we see with many young drivers coming into the sport and making an impact.

"We believe Paul is one of the best talents and we look forward to developing him into an F1 driver."