Jack Doohan has asserted that he and Alpine “know what my contract situation is” amid the disclosure that he has been given assurances over his drive in Formula 1.
Doohan approached his rookie F1 season with speculation swirling over his Alpine seat amid the team’s decision to secure Franco Colapinto’s services from Williams.
Alpine Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore was instrumental in the move to sign Colapinto, and he vowed that he would get the Argentine a permanent place on the grid.
There had been reports a switch could take place as soon as the Miami Grand Prix next month due to rumoured mechanisms inserted into Doohan’s deal with Alpine.
However, the Enstone-based squad is now believed to have elected to grant Doohan more time to consolidate his seat alongside experienced team-mate Pierre Gasly.
The Australian repeated that he was never in doubt about where his prospects stand as he bids to build on the sporadic promise he has shown in his debut campaign.
“I’ve tried not to think about it,” Doohan addressed when asked about the persistent speculation in Saudi Arabia.
“We know internally what my contract situation is, and the rest, I always knew was going to be fluctuating for sure.
“All I can focus on is what me and the team are here to do and for me to get up to speed as quickly as possible.
“It has been good that we’ve shown some good moments over the past four rounds and the raw pace is there.
“There are a lot of strong things to take forward and now it is just about putting all those things together and for sure, we will be able to achieve great things.”
Doohan outlines how he can improve
Doohan remains among the quartet still waiting to earn a point this season, but he delivered his most promising weekend in Bahrain as he almost progressed into Q3.
The Alpine driver, who slipped to 14th in the race as Gasly came home seventh, admitted that attempting not to “reinvent the wheel” was vital to extracting more pace.
When quizzed on what he needed to do to start higher up the grid, Doohan replied: “Not trying to experiment too much at the end of Q2, which is the most important for tyre warm-up and just sticking to what has worked and sticking to the basics.
“It got me through around P5/P6 for the whole qualifying session, and then not trying to reinvent the wheel for the remainder which maybe put me out of Q3 which I shouldn’t have been.”
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