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Alpine's youngster Doohan had 'strange' shootout against childhood friend
- Corwin Kunst
Jack Doohan will become Pierre Gasly's teammate at Alpine next year. The Australian was not the only driver rumoured to join the French team, but he eventual got the promotion to become a full-time driver, while Mick Schumacher (driving in WEC for the team), missed out on a seat. The Australian talked about the process of earning a drive for 2025.
To decide who gets to become Pierre Gasly's next teammate after it was announced that Esteban Ocon will leave the formation, Alpine had a special test day at the Paul Ricard track. The two drivers who get along well, and their world champion fathers - Michael Schumacher and motorcycle champion Mick Doohan -, were also great friends.
"It was strange," Doohan said when talking to Formula One's official website. "For me, I kept it business. I didn’t think of it in any other way than, at the end of the day, I’m just going to hop into the car and drive as fast as I can. It doesn’t matter who’s next to me. It doesn’t mean I’m going to be any different outside the car. But when I hop in, I have that the mindset to be as fast as I can."
Doohan's patience rewarded
After the first quarter of 2024, the 21-year-old driver felt he would actually have a chance of entering the king class of motorsport. "I knew there was… let’s say, a rabbit to chase, a possibility that I can fight for this. There was no given task. There was obviously a lot of people [drivers] that were still out of contract and so much going on, so I had to be very patient and bide my time and really feed my case, make sure I maximised every time I got behind the wheel."
"I’m grateful that the patience paid off, as well as not racing, because that is a risk," the Australian added. After finishing third in the Formula 2 championship in 2023, in 2024, he decided to become a reserve driver.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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