After Esteban Ocon's departure was announced from Alpine, the team have found themselves with a seat to fill and there are a few options the team have for the 2025 season.
Jack Doohan
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Doohan, age 21, is seen as one of the favourites for the seat and is the teams current reserve driver. The Australian driver is currently sat on the side-lines this season after two full seasons in Formula 2 in 2022 and 2023 where he finished third in the overall championship.
In 2017, Doohan became apart of the Red Bull Junior Team before making a switch to the Alpine Academy in 2022 before his debut season in Formula 2. He got his first taste of an F1 car that year too, driving the A521 at Qatar. He would also get chances in Hungary and Italy.
He got his first free practice session (FP1) appearance over the Mexican Grand Prix weekend and had another opportunity at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Ahead of the 2023 F1 season, Doohan was officially announced as the teams reserve driver and did more tests and took part in FP1 at the same circuits as the year previous.
This year, Doohan competed in the Canadian Grand Prix practice session, but due to conditions, had little running so will no doubt get another opportunity later in the year. Doohan would be a good option for Alpine as he's a driver they know and is already integrated within the team.
Mick Schumacher
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Schumacher, aged 25, is another driver option for Alpine who is already integrated in the team as he is currently competing in the World Endurance Championship with the Alpine team.
The German driver has F1 experience, something Doohan has little of, especially in races, as Schumacher raced for the Haas Formula 1 Team in 2021 and 2022 and since 2023, has been the reserve driver for Mercedes.
Schumacher is a Formula 3 and Formula 2 champion so has shown pace in feeder categories to Formula 1 but was let go from Haas due to poor results and frequent crashes.
It's been confirmed that Schumacher will test an Alpine Formula 1 car in the coming weeks so they can evaluate the driver and see if he is a real option for their vacant 2025 seat.
Carlos Sainz
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Sainz, age 29, is likely to be Alpine's now first choice but it had seemed as a 'done deal' between the Spainiards camp and Williams but these were only rumours as nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
Only in the last few days have Alpine made a last minute move for Sainz after it was confirmed in early February that he would be replaced by Lewis Hamilton for the 2025 season. This move is believed to be the influence of the recent return of Flavio Briatore.
The current Ferrari driver has raced for the team before back when it was Renault for four races in 2017 and a full season in 2018 before moving to McLaren for the 2019 season.
Sainz's three career wins and 22 podiums speak for themselves as he will continue to be a really strong driver wherever he ends up for the 2025 season and I'm sure Alpine will be hoping it will be them.
Valtteri Bottas
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Bottas, age 34, is seen as an unlikely option for Alpine but is definitely a driver on the teams radar for the 2025 season and the Finn is hoping to find himself a seat as a departure from Sauber is almost certain.
Bottas has a vast amount of F1 experience entering 234 races and made his first appearance back in 2013 with Williams. Bottas has raced for just three teams so far in his career with them being Williams, Mercedes and Sauber and if he were to move to Alpine, he would be adding a fourth.
The former race winner has stood on the top step 10 times so far and has featured on the podium an impressive 67 times achieving most of these at Mercedes where he raced from 2017 until 2021.
Bottas has been runner-up twice in his career in both 2019 and 2020 so is definitely a strong candidate for Alpine's list of potential 2025 drivers.
Other drivers such as Kevin Magnussen, Antonio Giovinazzi and Nyck De Vries could be considered by Alpine but nothing recent has been talked about these drivers moving to the French team.