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Alpine will promote its reserve driver Jack Doohan to a race seat for the 2025 Formula 1 season alongside Pierre Gasly.
Doohan, son of five-time grand prix motorcycling world champion Mick, has served as Alpine's reserve driver since the start of 2023, dovetailing those commitments last year with a second full Formula 2 campaign in which he finished third overall with three victories.
The 21-year-old had two FP1 outings for the team last year and has made two more already this year, where his focus has been solely on his reserve duties, and has made a good impression in his outings in Canada and Silverstone as well as behind the scenes in his simulator work.
That was to such an extent that he was already forcing his way into contention to partner Gasly, announced in June as remaining at Alpine, even before Carlos Sainz emerged as a contender for that seat.
And when Sainz chose Williams instead, Doohan was widely expected to get the drive ahead of other contenders including Valtteri Bottas and Alpine World Endurance Championship driver Mick Schumacher.
In announcing Doohan on the Friday of the Dutch Grand Prix, Alpine stated only that he would complete its line-up for 2025.
He effectively replaces Esteban Ocon, whose split from Alpine for 2025 was announced a little more than a week after a high-profile clash with team-mate Gasly in the Monaco Grand Prix.
Ocon will join Haas next season after five seasons at Alpine.
Doohan's deal means there will be at least two - and likely three - rookies on the F1 grid next season.
Doohan joins the already-announced Ollie Bearman in graduating to a full-time race seat next year. Ferrari protege Bearman, who stood in for Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March, is getting six FP1 outings for Haas this year as its reserve driver and has impressed sufficiently - despite a tricky F2 campaign - to earn a seat alongside Ocon.
Mercedes is also likely to promote its protege Kimi Antonelli, who turns 18 this weekend, to its works team alongside George Russell for 2025 - with only the potential availability of Max Verstappen a stumbling block.
Prior to joining Alpine's junior ranks, Doohan had been a member of the Red Bull junior team.
His single-seater career - not unlike Australian compatriot and one-time Alpine junior stablemate Oscar Piastri - has followed a general trend of Doohan becoming stronger and a more credible F1 option with more powerful machinery.
Doohan has previously worked with new Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes when he finished runner-up in the F3 Asian championship in 2019 (having also taken part in that year's winter series) driving for the Hitech GP team Oakes headed up.
