Alpine has introduced that Jack Doohan will make his Method One debut this weekend in Abu Dhabi, changing Esteban Ocon.
It emerged on Sunday evening after the Qatar Grand Prix that talks had been ongoing for Alpine reserve driver Doohan to switch Ocon, who had signed for Haas in 2025, one race sooner than deliberate in Abu Dhabi.
This got here amid a need from Ocon to participate within the post-season check with Haas on the Tuesday after the race in Abu Dhabi to assist him acclimate to the crew and get forward of schedule for 2025.
As a way to be launched from his contract that ran till the top of the 12 months and participate within the check, Ocon was required to step down from his set for the ultimate race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
The information was confirmed by Alpine on Monday morning, handing Doohan an early grand prix debut earlier than he races full-time with the crew subsequent 12 months.
“BWT Alpine Method One Workforce pronounces that reserve driver Jack Doohan will race within the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix rather than Esteban Ocon,” a press release from Alpine learn.
“The change permits Esteban to be launched to Haas to drive within the post-season check in Abu Dhabi.”
Doohan will race with #61 in Abu Dhabi, the crew’s registered reserve driver quantity, earlier than switching to #7 when he races full-time subsequent season alongside Pierre Gasly.
Doohan’s F1 debut comes off the again of an in depth personal testing program with Alpine by way of 2024. The 21-year-old Australian completed third in final 12 months’s Method Two championship earlier than specializing in his F1 reserve duties by way of this 12 months.
Talking on Sunday evening in Qatar earlier than a deal had been finalized, Alpine crew principal Oliver Oakes stated it’s “by no means straightforward to guage” a younger driver getting into an F1 race weekend at late discover, and that Doohan must “take it as he finds it.”
“I feel he’s skilled sufficient to deal with it,” Oakes stated. “I feel as effectively, when you ease into the weekend, FP1, FP2, you may construct as much as it as effectively.”
Oakes added: “He’s been with me fairly a bit within the storage, he’s listened to the intercom of me and Flav (Briatore, Alpine’s govt advisor) giving his two pennies as effectively. I’m positive he’s prepared for it.”
Doohan will bid to assist Alpine beat Ocon’s future crew, Haas, to sixth place within the constructors’ championship after transferring again forward because of Gasly’s fifth-place end in Qatar.
Alpine at the moment leads Haas by 5 factors, having shot up the desk because of Ocon and Gasly’s double-podium end in Brazil. Every championship place is price within the area of $12-15 million in further prize cash.
Alpine introduced in August that Doohan would exchange Ocon for 2025 after mutually agreeing to half methods with the Frenchman in June, main him to signal a multi-year take care of Haas.
Ocon’s exit implies that his five-season stint on the crew ends with a first-lap retirement in Qatar, having loved highs together with its sole grand prix win beneath the Alpine model at Hungary in 2021.
“The crew want to thank Esteban for his time on the crew and he’ll stay a part of the crew’s historical past attaining the primary win for Alpine in Method One,” the crew stated within the assertion. “We want Esteban one of the best for the long run.”
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