F1 Rumor: Jack Doohan Gets Alpine Seat Over Mick Schumacher, Leak Reveals

Esteban Ocon’s Alpine successor has been finalized. After the French team announced they’ll part ways with Ocon in 2025, their reserve driver, Jack Doohan, was the favorite to replace the disgraced Frenchman. However, Alpine’s WEC driver and Michael Schumacher’s son Mick had an outside chance to upset the 21-year-old. Soon, both of them were thrown into the backseat as Carlos Sainz entered the contention. But the Ferrari driver announcing his multi-year Williams contract has finally settled the dust at Alpine.

As per auto motor & sport Sweden, Alpine has already released an internal press release announcing Jack Doohan as Pierre Gasly’s teammate for 2025. Not only should that make him 2025’s third rookie driver, alongside Haas’ Oliver Bearman, and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli (yet to be confirmed), but also the third Australian, alongside McLaren’s Oscar Piasti and VCARB’s Daniel Ricciardo, whose contract is yet to be renewed.

After the Esteban Ocon exit announcement, Doohan had started mentally prepping to debut next year. Though he was wary of F1’s ‘uncertain’ nature, “My dream is to be on the grid, my dream is to be in Formula 1,” he emphasized for the Alpine bosses to hear. However, Mick Schumacher too was as determined as ever to mark his return to the pinnacle of motorsport. “F1 has always been a dream and it will always remain the dream,” the German said in January this year.

Though Schumacher has 2 years of F1 experience driving for Haas, and double reserve driver duties for McLaren and Mercedes currently, Doohan edged him out. Fate is a weird thing. Michael Schumacher was the one who gave the young Australian his first go-kart. Never in a million years would he have anticipated that this gift to a 3-year-old Doohan would culminate in knocking down his son’s F1 comeback.

From family friends to F1 rivals – The Jack Doohan & Mick Schumacher story

There are quite some uncanny coincidences in the Jack Doohan- Mick Schumacher crossover. Their fathers, Mick Doohan and Michael Schumacher, went from being neighbors in Monaco to very close friends in the 90s. While Mick Doohan conquered the MotoGP world with five consecutive titles from 1994 to 98, Michael did him one better in F1 with 7 championships.

Doohan Jr., however, found the 4-wheelers more bewitching than what his father raced. Fortuitously, the best F1 racer was a common visitor in the Doohan household in Australia. No prizes for guessing that the 7-time champion became Jack Doohan’s idol. “Given everything he has accomplished and his whole mentality, he is someone whom I look up to massively,” Jack said about uncle Michael during his F3 days.

These weren’t the only stars aligning that led Doohan towards his F1 dream. Alpine’s new Team Principal Oliver Oakes also has an old connection with Doohan. In 2019, the Aussie drove for Oakes’ F3 team, Hitech Grand Prix, and ended as the runner-up in the championship. This story seems like the fairytale that fellow Aussie Daniel Ricciardo wants right now but it’s his compatriot making it big. Well, on some level, Jack might have felt odd competing for the 2025 seat against his father’s namesake. But lets just add to that the list of coincidences. Are you excited to see another fresh face from Down Under in F1?