The Alpine team has confirmed its line-up of young drivers for the upcoming Formula 2 season, with Jack Doohan , son of five-time world motorcycling champion Mick, and Olli Caldwell as new members.
The Australian is preparing for his first full year on the eve of the Grand Circus, and will make his debut with Virtuosi Racing after finishing as runner-up in Formula 3 with the Trident team, where he put in some strong performances.
Doohan will follow in the footsteps of his compatriot Oscar Piastri , who will be in the role of development driver for the Alpine team in Formula 1 after proclaiming himself the winner of Formula 2 in 2021.
His teammate, Olli Caldwell , who finished eighth last season in Formula 3 with Prema, climbed to the top of the podium in the second race of the Spanish Grand Prix, in addition to adding two other appointments among the three fastest. At the age of 19, he will be one of the drivers of Campos Racing , a Spanish structure that he will join for the last two F2 events in 2021.
These two pilots will be combined with the other two members of the Alpine academy, Caio Collet and Victor Martins , who renew with the Gauls for another year.
The Brazilian will be with MP Sport after finishing ninth overall in F3 last season, while the Frenchman, who is heading to ART Gran Prix , will have a new opportunity in this category in which he has one win and five podium finishes. .
Alpine’s announcement sees two of its previous drivers, Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard , stepping down from the Enstone team after rising to Formula 1 and IndyCar respectively.
The Chinese will partner Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo, while the Dane will be with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the US single-seaters.
“The Alpine academy continues to be a very valuable part of what we want to achieve in Formula 1,” said French CEO Laurent Rossi . “We are passionate about finding the next generation of drivers, it is exciting to see the strength of this program since it started in 2016, with its best year last season.”
“We welcome two new drivers, Jack [Doohan] and Olli [Caldwell], along with the duo that will continue in F3, Caio [Collet] and Victor [Martins]. They each bring their own personality and talent, and we are very excited to see how this course unfolds, individually and as a group”, he concluded.
