Jack Doohan has hailed the efforts of Alpine to remove pressure around him at the start of his rookie season, amid reports that he could be dropped from the team.
After announcing Doohan as one of their 2025 drivers, Alpine bolstered their ranks by signing last season’s Williams super-sub Franco Colapinto as well as Paul Aron and Kush Maini in test and reserve capacities.
The pressure on Doohan only grew amid reports that Colapinto could take away his seat after only a handful of events, but the Australian shut down any questions as he embarked on his first full F1 season.
Despite the outside noise, Doohan has applied himself admirably in the first five races of the campaign and praised Alpine for how they have supported him.
Doohan finished in 17th place at the recent Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
“To be honest, I haven’t really struggled with the pressure at all,» Doohan said in the build-up to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“For sure, there have been a couple of instances like in Australia and Japan which you could potentially say that they could be pressure-related, but in all honesty, being fully open, they both were not. And the team have done a great and amazing job as well to really take that away, especially internally, which has been nice.
“For me, I know the raw pace has been there since the start, so that’s also an inner confidence that I can take with me, to know that as much as there is always going to be pressure and presence, to know that it wasn’t getting to me.”
Doohan is one of four drivers yet to score a point this season, alongside Fernando Alonso, Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto. He finished a season-best 13th place in China, but has frequently shown pace comparable to team mate Pierre Gasly.
In Jeddah, following a P17 result in Qualifying, the Australian would finish the race in the same position he started and, going forwards, has targeted an improvement to his single-lap pace.
Franco Colapinto signed for Alpine as a reserve driver in the winter
“I think we just have to focus on our strengths and if we put everything together on one lap, we can be there in Quali,» said Doohan post-race.
«I think then that will make everything a little bit easier, will make our strategy a bit more simple and would not pressure us into having to do such adventurous things to try to make up for it.
“Here, there was a lot more going on and some more difficulties, but we’ve got to keep our heads down and chins up.”
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