Doohan explains ‘strange’ shootout test with friend Schumacher before landing Alpine seat

Jack Doohan has admitted that it was a “strange” feeling to share a test day with Mick Schumacher earlier this year when Alpine were mulling over their driver line-up options for the 2025 campaign.

Doohan and Schumacher both took to the Paul Ricard Circuit ahead of the British Grand Prix weekend in Alpine’s 2022-spec A522, as permitted under the sport’s current TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) regulations.

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A couple of months after the test, it was announced that reserve driver Doohan – who has also completed several FP1 runs – will step up to a race seat with the outfit next season, replacing Esteban Ocon as Pierre Gasly’s team mate.

Fresh from signing his contract, Doohan was asked about the so-called ‘shootout’ with Schumacher and how it felt to be part of such a day – the pair having initially bonded through the friendship between their fathers Mick and Michael.

“It was strange,” said Doohan, whose dad is a former 500cc motorcycle world champion. “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.

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“Whatever the outcome was of that, I think I positioned myself to make sure that I was first in line to get this this seat, regardless of who it was next to me.”

That test aside, the 2021 F3 runner-up and 2023 F2 third-place finisher opened up on when he first believed there was a realistic shot of turning his reserve duties into a full-time seat.

“After the first quarter of the year, I knew there was… let’s say, a rabbit to chase, a possibility that I can fight for this,” the 21-year-old Australian commented.

“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.

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“I’m grateful that the patience paid off, as well as not racing, because that is a risk. But potentially, if I didn’t take that risk, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Doohan will continue in his reserve driver role through 2024, conducting simulator duties and further real-life tests with the A522 F1 car, while Schumacher contests the remainder of the World Endurance Championship for Alpine.

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