Doohan sends defiant Alpine message ahead of rookie F1 season

Jack Doohan is resolved on ensuring he and Pierre Gasly are the "best package" for Alpine despite the persistent speculation that Franco Colapinto is being teed up to replace him.

Since before the Argentine driver joined the French squad in a test and reserve capacity he has been linked to assuming a race seat with team this season.

The unfounded rumours have gone as far as to suggest Doohan will only have a handful of grand prix in his rookie season to impress - with some going as far as to say his initial contract only spans five or six rounds.

However, the 22-year-old, who has been a member of the Alpine junior programme since 2022 and made his F1 debut at last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, has his focus squarely fixed on the season to come.

When speaking to select media including RacingNews365 at the Autosport Awards about how he was assimilating into a full-time race seat at Team Enstone, Doohan found his own way of responding to the heavy media coverage of his seemingly precarious position.

"It's been great," the Australian said of preparations for the new season. "The team have had big open arms for me for a long time now. They've been so accommodating, very catering for me.

"And it's great to be working with Pierre and constantly learning from him with his vast six, seven years of Formula 1 experience.

"I look forward to continuing that and creating a great relationship together to ensure that we're the best package for the team this year."

What Doohan can learn from Gasly

In Gasly, Doohan has an experienced midfield operator to learn directly from as he fights to preserve his race seat.

Aside from linguistic support from his French team-mate, he hopes their relationship will continue to grow and that they can feed off each other to best advantage the team.

"Some French, for sure," he joked when asked what he is going to learn from the 28-year-old in the year ahead.

"But also just benefit from his experience, seeing how he takes on race weekends.

"Not just on a one-off [basis] like Abu Dhabi, but throughout a season, so I look forward to being able to learn off him as much as I can, while contributing and hopefully bouncing off each other, to ensure we make our car go as fast as possible."