Otmar Szafnauer admitted to being impressed by the way Jack Doohan performed during his truncated free practice session ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix, but no decision has been made to whether the Australian will become their reserve driver in 2023.
Doohan was restricted to only thirteen laps of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in the opening free practice session in Mexico before an engine issue ended his session, but the FIA Formula 2 race winner did enough to impress Szafnauer, the Team Principal at the BWT Alpine F1 Team.
“He’s a decent young man and very fast,” Szafnauer said to Motorsport.com. “He had 13 laps in our car and in these 13 laps he quickly picked up speed.
“But we told him beforehand ‘stay within your limit, don’t drive at full speed’. He did exactly what we asked him to do after he had prepared himself in an exemplary manner. He wanted to know everything. He’s a good boy.”
No driver has yet to be confirmed as the reserve driver at Alpine for next season, with this years’ reserve driver, Oscar Piastri moving on to race for the McLaren F1 Team.
And although Szafnauer was impressed by Doohan’s driving in Mexico, he says there are bigger targets for the Australian to hit next year, including fighting for the Formula 2 title.
“This decision hasn’t been made yet,” Szafnauer added. “I think like my mother, she always said ‘first the wedding, then the baptism’.
“Like I said an impressive young man. He’s fast. In 2023 his focus will be on winning the title in Formula 2. If he could do that in his second year – that’s what we’re focusing on. Then we’ll look further.
“We’re lucky to have him in our youth program.”
