Aussie rising star Jack Doohan is facing renewed competition to take over Esteban Ocon’s seat at Alpine next year, with Mick Schumacher set to receive a full day of private testing in a modern F1 car with the French team next week.
But reports also suggest the team is now hard pursuing Carlos Sainz too as the Spaniard approaches crunch time to make a call on his post-Ferrari future.
Schumacher is a Mercedes reserve driver but races for Alpine in the World Endurance Championship. His run at Circuit Paul Ricard in the build-up to next weekend’s British Grand Prix will be his first serious blast in a car built to the current regulations since losing his seat at Haas at the end of 2022.
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The team said in a statement that the 25-year-old would be on track in the team’s 2022 F1 car “as part of his Alpine Endurance project”.
Alpine reserve driver Doohan will drive on the day as part of his 5000-kilometre testing program as Alpine’s full-time reserve driver.
Schumacher and Doohan have known each other since childhood, their legendary fathers — seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher and five-time 500cc motorcycle champion Mick Doohan — being long-time friends. Michael Schumacher gave Jack Doohan his first kart, while Mick Schumacher was named after Mick Doohan.
The dual test would appear to pit the two young guns against one another to move up the list of options to replace Esteban Ocon in 2025, with the Frenchman and Alpine having announced they would part ways at the end of the season.
The contest for the seat comes against a backdrop of yet more management changes at Alpine, with former title-winning principal Flavio Briatore brought back into the fold as executive adviser for the F1 division to Renault CEO Luca de Meo.
Briatore has been without a day-to-day role in Formula 1 since resigning from the team in disgrace in 2009 after being found by the FIA to have been the architect of the infamous ‘crashgate’ cheating scandal at the previous year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
De Meo has seen fit to bring him back to the team as it wallows near the back of the grid following months of management turmoil and staff turnover.
The team said his remit will include “scouting top talents and providing insights on the driver market”, among other top-level business.
According to Autosport, Briatore leads Doohan’s management team, potentially making his appointment timely for the Aussie F1 hopeful.
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Briatore suggested he already has a short list of drivers he’s considering alongside Pierre Gasly, who he intends to re-sign.
“I already have a list of names to evaluate, but it’s still early,” he said. “We have Pierre Gasly; we’ll calmly see who to pair with him.
“We’re following a lot of young people. I won’t tell you who, but they’re very good.
“However, the focus today must be on making the car easy to drive and fast, then we’ll think about the drivers”.
Briatore also has a Schumacher connection, having ruthlessly pinched Michael from the Jordan team after his debut grand prix to race for Benetton, where he won his first two world championships in 1994 and 1995.
SAINZ SUDDENLY IN THE MIX
Briatore’s long-rumoured arrival has also coincided with reports that Alpine is making a hard play for Carlos Sainz’s signature as the Spaniard homes in on a decision for 2025.
According to Autosport, Alpine has made a late bid for Sainz’s services, with serious talks between the parties ramping up in recent weeks.
There’s also a suggestion that a lucrative contract has been tabled.
It had previously been understood that Williams and the future Audi team at Sauber were Sainz’s only two options. Pinching the three-time race winner from beneath their noses would be an enormous coup for Enstone and a major boost of confidence for the struggling manufacturer.
Speaking ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Sainz said the toll of deciding on his next contract was weighing on him.
“I’m still not sure one way or another,” he said. “It’s still something that I’m discussing with my team and brainstorming, and obviously I need a couple of days back at home.
“I haven’t had time to really sit down and take a decision. This is what I will target in the next few weeks.
“I think it’s getting to a point where it’s obviously taking space out of my head for quite a few weeks and months now.
“I think it’s obviously time to make a decision.
“The decision will be taken soon. Hopefully soon we will have things to talk about.”
The appearance of Alpine in his mix of options coincides with an upturn in form for the French team, which has scored points at four of the last five grands prix after going scoreless in the first five rounds.
Back-to-back double points finishes in Canada and Spain have vaulted Alpine from equal last in the constructors championship to seventh. It puts the team ahead of Haas and, perhaps crucially, Williams and Sauber.
Williams has scored just two points this season, while Sauber is yet to finish in the top 10.
Alpine has made the biggest development gains so far in 2024, albeit off a catastrophically low base.
On average it’s been the eighth quickest car over a single lap this season, That improves to sixth quickest over the previous five races, putting it ahead of Aston Martin, Haas, Williams and Sauber.
Working against Alpine, however, are persistent rumours the team will be broken up or sold.
Though Renault has denied it’s contemplating a sale — some have read commercial mogul Briatore’s appointment as being to fatten up the team for market — it is reportedly weighing up closing its power unit division to become a customer team from 2026.
Such a move would save Renault millions of dollars and allow it to focus on aerodynamics, but it would come at the expense of the highly sought after advantage of being a works team that can conceptualise its chassis and engine as a complete package.
“It is also the long term,” Sainz said. “It is also trying to understand the power unit side. It’s trying to understand the team dynamics.
“All these factors come into play when taking a decision, and that’s why it’s taking long and it’s taking time for me to find some time within myself to take the decision.”
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ZHOU GUANYU A LONG-SHOT ALTERNATIVE
A mooted fourth alternative is Zhou Guanyu, who could rely on his commercial connections as China’s first Formula 1 driver to extend his stay in the category.
Though Zhou hasn’t publicly been told he won’t continue with Sauber next season, Audi appears keen to start fresh with its own driver line-up, and the 25-year-old is “talking to all the options” available to him to remain on the grid next season.
Audi has Sainz at the top of its list, with Ocon said to be the team’s second choice if the Spaniard chooses a different team. Kiwi Liam Lawson has also recently been connected to the Sauber seat for 2025, with RB so far unwilling to commit one way or another on Daniel Ricciardo’s seat.
Zhou was a Renault and Alpine academy driver before being released to join Alfa Romeo, now Sauber, in 2022.
But his connection runs deeper on a commercial level.
Zhou has been an ambassador for Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Zeekr since February this year. Zeekr is owned by Chinese auto giant Geely.
Earlier this year Renault and Geely jointly founded Horse Powertrain, which will supply both brands and their subsidiaries and partners — including Volvo, Nissan and Mitsubishi — with internal combustion and hybrid engines.
Zhou’s popularity in China — the Chinese Grand Prix sold out this year, with all tickets bought in less than 45 minutes — could make him too commercial enticing to pass up, winning Geely massive international exposure.
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“All I can say is that, for myself, personally, I’ve been already working together with Geely Group,” Zhou said, per PlanetF1.
“I’ve been an ambassador for their cars — Zeekr is from their group — so I’m very close with them.
“Of course they still have a high interest around motorsports, on Formula 1 in general.
“I think where I’m heading, they will try to help me in that side, which is nice to have.
“But then knowing they have a good connection with Alpine, it’s not really making my decision more where I’m going to [be] heading off, but that’s what they are doing with their own road cars.
“I’m convinced that they will try everything for me — and also myself together with my manager group — but nothing else to add really on that side of things.”
Zhou appeared to hint at speculation that Geely could take a formal role in the Alpine team, which would likely only boost his odds of a soft landing in 2025.
“They have interest in this sport in Formula 1, and I think especially they want to definitely come back to Formula 1, but which way we need to see,” he said.
“The way I’ve always done is more about a partnership and in a very good way — close, let’s say, partnership — but the rest we need to see what their strategy is in terms of building up the brand and marketing they have.”
Teammate Valtteri Bottas is also said to be in the frame, though the Finn has reportedly been in talks with Haas and Williams as well, covering all bases for when the market moves again once Sainz decides where he wants to go.
It adds up to a fascinating multi-cornered contest in a chaotic year of seat-shuffling ahead of the critical rule changes in 2026.