Alpine F1 selects another Australian for reserve driver role in 2023 after Oscar Piastri debacle

The Alpine F1 team has announced that Australian racing driver Jack Doohan will join them as a reserve driver for the upcoming 2023 season.

Doohan is an exciting junior driver who raced in F2 last season and finished sixth in the driver's championship. The Aussie's appointment as reserve driver has certainly caught the attention of many F1 fans on social media as the French team has gone for another Aussie driver.

Former F2 champion Oscar Piastri was the reserve driver of the team in 2022 and was announced as a replacement for the departing Fernando Alonso ahead of the 2023 season. However, the team made the announcement without informing the Aussie rookie, who had already signed a contract with McLaren F1 to replace Daniel Ricciardo.

As per PlanetF1, the Alpine team boss revealed that Doohan would a part of the team in 2023 but will continue to race in F2. He said:

“He’ll be in F2 again, so he’ll be part of the Alpine family going forward but his focus for next year will be to win the F2 championship."

Doohan stated that he was grateful for the opportunity and intended to provide his support to the team wherever necessary, adding:

“Very pleased to announce I’ll be the reserve driver for 2023 for Alpine F1 Team. Very grateful for this opportunity to work closely with the team, to provide my support for the year, and learn as much as possible for the future. Can’t wait to get started!”

“A good year for us is being a lot closer to third" - Alpine F1 team boss Otmar Szafnauer

Szafnauer has stated that a good year for the French team would be closing the gap to the top three teams on the grid. Alpine finished fourth in the constructor's championship and revealed that they didn't want to slip back to fifth after making the jump last year.

Speaking to F1.com, he said:

“A good year for us is being a lot closer to third. There was a big gap between fourth and third last year, [so] being significantly closer to the top three and perhaps a little bit further away from fifth."

“Although we finished fourth, it was a hard-fought year with McLaren – we were only a few points ahead of them by the end. The fourth and fifth were nearly equal on points, and a third was a long way away,"

It will be interesting to see if the team can reach its goal of closing the gap on the three teams in 2023.