Alpine protégé: 'Winning F2 championship more important than F1 reserve role'

With the departure of Daniel Ricciardo, Formula 1 has not lost all the Australians on the track and in the garages. Oscar Piastri has secured his seat at McLaren, and Alpine, following Piastri's departure, has given the position of reserve driver to Jack Doohan. But the 19-year-old has other priorities.

In his eyes, winning the Formula 2 championship is more important at the moment than his position at Alpine. Although, as a senior member of the Alpine Academy, he is the logical choice for Alpine to fill the seat, the driver tells Speedcafe.com that it will not benefit him much.

"The main priority – it’s a bit repetitive – but is to focus fully on Formula 2. I could come around to all the Formula 1 races and sit there and be there, but, number one, the likelihood of obviously hopping in a car is, as we know, very, very low" said the young Australian.

Doohan stresses winning the Formula 2 championship gives him a better market position than his role as reserve driver at Alpine. To do that, he says he needs to "maximise" his chances, and thus "minimise" distractions such as being a reserve driver. That may sound controversial to many a racing fan, but the Australian is convinced that performance on the track will count more for the future than from the garage.

Nevertheless, he also says that "if I have to sit out and wait a year, I’d be fine with that because I’d be more than happy to wait for an Alpine seat and continue to grow with them."

Time will tell if Jack will actually win the Formula 2 championship, and what the implications will be for the promising young driver.