LUSAIL, Qatar — Jack Doohan is poised to replace Esteban Ocon at Alpine for the Formula One Abu Dhabi season finale after talks this weekend in Qatar.
Alpine announced in August that Doohan, its reserve driver, would step up to a full-time seat for 2025 and replace Ocon, who had signed a deal in July to join Haas.
But in a sudden move, Doohan is now set to replace Ocon ahead of schedule and take over his seat for next week’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, making his F1 debut four months sooner than planned.
On Sunday night in Qatar, it emerged that talks had been held between Alpine and Ocon’s management over a deal that would ensure Ocon could take part in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi for Haas, helping his preparations for the move in 2025.
As part of an agreement to let Ocon test for Haas, the Frenchman is set to step down from his seat at Alpine with one race remaining in the season.
Alpine was eager to stress officially that no decision had been finalized nor was anything yet official. Ocon’s manager declined to comment when approached by The Athletic.
But Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes confirmed that talks had taken place between Flavio Briatore, Alpine’s executive advisor, and Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, about an early switch. Mercedes remains involved in Ocon’s management, first taking him on as a young driver in 2016.
“I don’t think there’s been a definitive answer yet, but it has been talked about,” Oakes said. “It’s obviously slightly complex because as much as he is ours, he is contractually a Mercedes driver as well. And obviously, he’d like to be released early as well.”
Oakes said that talks had been initiated from both Alpine and Ocon’s sides. “I guess you could say it’s good to get Jack in early,” Oakes said. “I think you could say from Esteban’s side it’s good to move on early. I think it suits everybody.
“The discussion was quite natural, really. Esteban has been a big part of this team as well. From both sides, it suits each other.”
Wolff said that Mercedes’ agreement with Alpine over Ocon only expired at the end of the year but added: “If you agree that for the benefit of the future, there’s a better solution that allows Esteban to get ready earlier for Haas and that depends on driving or not in Abu Dhabi, I think this is something which is we discussed today, and we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
Asked if getting a deal finalized with now simply a box-ticking exercise, Oakes said there were “still some conversions to go through tonight and maybe tomorrow morning.”
“But I think it all seems to be moving in a direction that might be a good solution for everybody,” he added. “Let’s see.”
Following Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix, where Ocon retired after being taken out in a first-corner incident, he made an effort to thank his Alpine crew in multiple interviews. “I’d like to thank the guys for their effort in this race but also their effort the whole year,” Ocon said on F1 TV. “That’s important to me to have seen them pushing. I just wanted to say that.”
This isn’t the first time there have been rumblings about whether Doohan would replace Ocon. Earlier this year, Ocon collided with teammate Pierre Gasly in Monaco, damaging both cars because of Ocon’s move to pass his teammate.
A few days before the Canadian GP weekend, Alpine announced it and Ocon mutually agreed to part ways at the end of the 2024 season, but it was understood that the decision was not directly linked to what happened in Monaco. Over a month later, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Haas announced that Ocon would complete its 2025 driver lineup, which also includes Oliver Bearman.
With Ocon leaving Alpine, the team looked at the fluid drivers market, such as Carlos Sainz, who eventually made a deal with Williams, announced in late July, and its reserve driver. Doohan, 21, has been part of Alpine since 2022, becoming its reserve driver a year later. The move to the Enstone-based crew came after a lengthy stint as part of Red Bull’s junior team from 2017 to 2021.
Doohan comes from a racing family. His father, Mick, won five straight 500 cc motorcycle world championships, but the younger Doohan has yet to secure his own title. He finished the 2023 Formula Two season third and spent this season fully focused on Alpine and an extensive testing program.
And it paid off. Alpine announced before the Dutch Grand Prix in August that the Australian driver would complete its 2025 driver lineup alongside Gasly.
“After the first quarter of the year, I knew there was a contention, there was let’s say a rabbit to chase, a possibility I can fight for this,” Doohan said at Zandvoort when asked when he realized he had a chance at a seat in 2025.
“There was no given task, there was obviously a lot of people that were still out of contract and so much going on, so I had to be very patient, bide my time and really plead my case, make sure I maximized every time I got behind the wheel, and I’m grateful that the patience paid off, as well as not racing, because like you said, that is a risk.
“But potentially, if I didn’t take that risk, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Top photos of Esteban Ocon and Jack Doohan: Bryn Lennon/Formula 1 via Getty Images, Kym Illman/Getty Images
