Doohan's Alpine racing seat appears secure until 'summer'.

      "He has performed well this weekend and overall."

      Jack Doohan seems to have done enough to secure his race seat at Alpine at least until the European summer. This year, there have been growing speculations that the Australian rookie is on a six-race contract, which could allow Franco Colapinto to take over after just two more Grands Prix. However, team advisor Flavio Briatore appeared to be in no rush to replace Doohan just a few days ago.

      “Colapinto? We’ll see,” he stated to La Stampa newspaper. “The priority is to have a top-level car that competes with the four giants: McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari.”

      In fact, Auto Motor und Sport is now reporting, based on paddock information, that the 22-year-old son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan has been granted "a grace period until the summer, despite his two accidents in Melbourne and Japan." Team principal Oliver Oakes has also shown more support for Doohan compared to Briatore.

      “He's done a good job this weekend and in general,” Oakes mentioned in Bahrain last weekend. “I know he was a bit caught off guard in FP1 in Japan, but I think this weekend, especially during qualifying – Q1 and the first run of Q2 – it was better. He was somewhat disappointed in the final run of Q2 because he was just half a tenth away from making it to Q3.”

      “He did very well in those first two stints during the race. Ultimately, it got tricky with the safety car, which bunches everyone together. In terms of competitiveness, it was tough with the cars around him. I really think he had a good weekend.”