Doohan admits Alpine demotion ‘a tough one for me to take’

Jack Doohan thanked his Alpine team for the opportunity it has provided him, while acknowledging his demotion back to reserve driver at the team is difficult to take.

After consistent speculation that Franco Colapinto would get a chance to race for Alpine ever since he was signed to a reserve role in January, the team announced Wednesday that the former Williams driver will replace Doohan for the next five races, starting at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The move comes after Doohan has started just seven races in total for Alpine, outqualifying teammate Pierre Gasly for the first time in Miami.

“I am very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional Formula 1 driver and I will forever be grateful to the team for helping me achieve this dream,” Doohan said. “Obviously, this latest chapter is a tough one for me to take because, as a professional driver, naturally I want to be racing.

“That said, I appreciate the team’s trust and commitment. We have long-term goals as a team to achieve and I will continue to give my maximum efforts in any way I can to help achieve those. For now, I will keep my head down, keep working hard, watch with interest the next five races and keep chasing my own personal goals.”

Alpine says it will carry out a new driver evaluation ahead of the British Grand Prix in July, with the race at Silverstone being the second of back-to-back weekends with Austria.

Doohan scored a best finish of 13th place in China, with the Australian driver retiring from the opening round of the season at his home race in Melbourne and again last time out in Miami following first-lap contact with Liam Lawson.