Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauersays the team has not yet decided whether or not to appoint Jack Doohan as itsreserve driver for next year. With current reserve driver OscarPiastri set to race for McLaren next year, Alpine need to replace him, and withDoohan a member of the team’s young driver academy, the Australian was thoughtto be a leading candidate. However, Szafnauer refused to confirmDoohan's potential promotion. "That decision hasn’t been made, sofor us to confirm that... it hasn’t been made," Szafnauer told media including RacingNews365.com . "Like mymother used to say: first the wedding, then the baptism." Currently lying fourth in the F2 championshipin his first year in the category, Doohan was thought to have been in therunning for a race seat at Alpine next year to replace the outgoing FernandoAlonso. However, the Enstone squad plumped instead for the more experienced PierreGasly. Despite passing him over for anunexpected promotion, Szafnauer talked up Doohan's abilities and potential. "He's an impressive young man," saidSzafnauer. "His focuswill be to win the Formula 2 championship next year. "That's the focus, and then we'll seewhere we go, but we're grateful to have him as part of our Academy."
Ricciardo a no-go for Alpine
One name not in the reckoning to be Alpine's reserve driver in 2023 is Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian is set for at least a year on F1's sidelines in 2023 after losing his drive at McLaren, and has been linked with a reserve driver role at several teams. However, Szafnauer said that Alpine have not been in discussions with Ricciardo, who previously raced for the team in its Renault guise in 2019 and 2020. "We haven’t made that decision [about a reserve driver] yet," said Szafnauer. "But to be fair to Daniel, we haven't been talking to him about a reserve [role]." With Piastri still officially contracted to Alpine, Szafnauer would not be drawn on whether the Enstone squad would be willing to release him from his contract early, in order to allow him to drive for McLaren during the post-season test at Abu Dhabi. "I think our legal teams are discussing that now, and I don't know. There'll be more next week," said Szafnauer.
Most read
