Alpine have taken another step towards confirming academy product Jack Doohan will get the debut he has been promised, announcing his number for the 2025 Formula One season.
The Australian driver’s promotion was formally announced in August but his future was suddenly clouded two weeks ago.
Paddock speculation suggested Alpine were involved in talks over Franco Colapinto following the Argentine’s star turn since his mid-season call-up at Williams.
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There is no room for Colapinto at Williams next year with Ferrari castaway Carlos Sainz joining incumbent Alex Albon.
But team boss James Vowles has been so desperate to help Colapinto stay on the grid that the academy graduate has even been linked to helping replace Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull.
Few updates followed the initial flood of rumours, with Alpine opting against responding to the speculation around Doohan.
Until Saturday — in a roundabout way.
Alpine celebrated “drawing No.7 for 2025” with a casino-themed reveal of Doohan’s race number.
The Australian initially wanted No.12 but missed out when Mercedes beat Alpine to the punch and applied for fellow rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli to use those digits first.
Doohan said he settled on No.7 for several reasons.
“Super psyched. I really wanted to go with a number that I raced with before, something that had meaning for me,” he said.
“I raced with No.7 in 2019 and also one of my idols, a super special person and driver Kimi Raikkonen, drove that number.
“I’m really looking forward to continuing it on and making it my own — and getting some luck from No.7.”
Doohan is one of four rookies locked in for 2025.
British teenager Oliver Bearman will race full-time for Haas following two substitute appearances for the team this year and one with Ferrari.
Highly rated Italian junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been given the task of replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes following the seven-time world champion’s defection to Ferrari.
Most recently Gabriel Bortoleto was locked in to drive with Sauber to become the first Brazilian full-timer since Felipe Nasr raced for the same team across 2015-16.
There could yet be a fifth rookie on the grid next year — and it all depends on the path Red Bull take with Sergio Perez.
Ricciardo was in line to step up from RB and replace the Mexican in the top team but instead lost his drive to New Zealand’s Liam Lawson midway through this season.
Perez is nominally under contract for the next two years and adamant he will see off Lawson’s challenge to remain in place.
Such a scenario would likely see Lawson remain at RB alongside Yuki Tsunoda.
Should Lawson get the drive at Red Bull then Perez would be sent packing from F1 with current reserve Isack Hadjar expected to step in at RB to round out the 2025 rookie class.
Colapinto remains a wildcard to replace Perez or take the RB seat.
The likelihood of Ricciardo being brought back in from the cold to replace Perez has faded since he was dropped.
But it cannot be completely ruled out amid the power struggle between Red Bull boss Christian Horner and heavyweight Helmut Marko.