Jack Doohan will become the 19th Australian to race in the Formula 1 world championship when he lines up on the grid in Melbourne next March.
Doohan will partner Pierre Gasly at Alpine after being promoted from the squad’s reserve driver into the race seat.
The 22-year-old had his future announced on the Thursday of the Dutch Grand Prix, having signed his contract in the days following the Belgian Grand Prix.
Doohan had been in Spa completing a Pirelli tyre test for Alpine, one of the responsibilities associated with his reserve driver role.
The Australian has been dedicated to that task this year, forgoing racing at the request of the team to focus on supporting Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
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“The decision on not racing, I probably would have raced if I could have,” Doohan said when asked by Speedcafe how big a gamble that choice was.
“But with my testing, the sim, and needing to be at the track for every single day, I wasn’t able to.
“So I looked at that, obviously the team wanting me to be at the track and wanting me to focus on Formula 1, as a good thing.
“The whole time, I completely had faith that I was going to be on the grid next year,” he added.
“I really thought it was 100 percent going to happen. I don’t know how, but that’s all I was thinking.
“I only think that now, when I look back, but in the moment that was completely my goal and my mindset – I didn’t really think of anything else.”
Doohan’s decision to sit out of competition this year came following his second year in Formula 2.
A race winner in both full-time campaigns (he had cameo appearances in late 2021), it was a pragmatic choice.
If he’d remained for a third season, the expectation would be that he’d have won the championship – but that it took him three years would diminish the accomplishment.
It essentially created a no-win scenario which made a return to the category illogical.
There were offers to race elsewhere, including Super Formula and IndyCar, but Doohan elected to remain focused on reaching F1, refusing to give up on his dream.
“I don’t think I ever got to a point where I never thought it was going to happen,” he admitted.
“Until it was over and written in big red letters in front of me, I don’t think I was going to ever let my mind go there and ever give up.
“As much as probably that seems realer now, there was definitely chances and possibilities that that was 100 percent a possibility, [but] I never really let myself get to that point.”
Doohan remains reserve driver at Alpine for the balance of this season ahead of taking on his role as race driver following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.
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