Jack Doohan Alpine F1 replacement rumours resurface after Miami

Rumours surrounding Jack Doohan’s F1 future have resurfaced following his DNF at the Miami Grand Prix.

Doohan was an early casualty at the Miami International Autodromo following a Lap 1 collision with Liam Lawson.

Doohan had shown promise in Miami, out-qualifying Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly.

However, his tangle with Lawson adds to a long list of mistakes since the start of the year.

According to a report by The Race, Alpine are considering replacing Doohan with Franco Colapinto for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in two weeks.

Since Alpine signed Colapinto as their test and reserve driver at the start of the year, speculation about Doohan’s future has been frequent.

There were even question marks over whether Doohan would even start the season amid the threat posed by Colapinto.

Reflecting on his weekend in Miami, Doohan appeared to be sure of his future, hinting at preparing for the upcoming races on the Alpine simulator.

“It was obviously good to get my first qualifying in front of my teammate and feeling confident in the car,” Doohan said.

“These are the small little wins that we unfortunately have to take from this weekend - but we’ll be carrying that into Imola.

“We have some sim work to do on the car and some sim work to do for the upcoming few races.

“It’s a good time to reset, although I feel like I haven’t really even done much driving.

“So I will be just shifting the focus straight to what’s to come.”

Doohan rumours “just noise”

Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes has insisted speculation surrounding rumours is “just noise”.

Ahead of the weekend in Miami, Horacio Marin, CEO of Argentine energy company YPF, which sponsors Colapinto, claimed Alpine would make a change for Imola.

Marin’s comments were heard in an off-air moment in a TV interview.

While Oakes hasn’t commented on the recent speculation after the race, he was keen to shrug off Marin’s comments on Friday in Miami.

“I saw it, like everyone else,” said Oakes. “I think it was a sponsor from Argentina off-camera giving his view on Franco, when he’s going to be in the car.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of people in Argentina who’d like him in the car this Sunday. We’ve been pretty open as a team that that’s just noise.

“Jack needs to continue doing a good job. But it’s natural that there’s always speculation there.”

He added: “Yeah, as it is today, Jack is our driver along with Pierre. We’ve been pretty clear on that. We always evaluate, but yeah – today, that is the case.”