Jack Doohan and Paul Aron reflect on post-season F1 testing at Yas Marina for Alpine

Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Paul Aron put the A524 through the paces in post-season testing in Abu Dhabi

The 2024 Formula 1 season is in the books.

But preparation for the 2025 campaign is already underway.

Post-season testing at Yas Marina, the site of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, drew to a close on Tuesday. All ten teams put drivers through their paces in Abu Dhabi, while Pirelli also conducted testing of tires in preparation for the 2025 season, including the super-soft C6 compound. The C6 compound may be used for street circuits next season.

Alpine was one of those teams in action with a pair of young drivers in the cockpit of the A524, their challenger for the 2024 F1 season. Jack Doohan, who drove in place of Esteban Ocon for the season finale and has already secured a full-time seat with Alpine for 2025, was one of the drivers participating. Paul Aron, who will step into Doohan’s former role as the team’s reserve driver for 2025, was the team’s other driver for the post-season testing session.

Both drivers summarized their experience in Alpine’s post-testing media report.

“It’s been a very solid day with over 750 [kilometers] recorded in the car,” said Doohan. “It was a very long but productive day, but good to be in the car again, especially coming in fresh off my first Grand Prix weekend. I’m very pleased with our work, we sampled the 2025 Pirelli tyres with lots of interesting data and feedback to give. Huge credit to the mechanics and engineers who did an exceptional job today. It’s been a long season for everyone so I’m grateful and thankful for their efforts on this final track day of the season. Now I am looking forward to going through the data and taking all these valuable learnings from the past week into next year.”

“I have had a very good day in Abu Dhabi driving a Formula 1 car for the first time, so thanks to the team for this opportunity. Like every driver that drives a Formula 1 car for the first time, I now realise just how quick these cars are and it was a lot of fun driving the A524 today,” Aron said. “From a fitness point of view, there was a lot to get used to but, in the end, everything was fine on that front. Even with 121 laps on the board, I wanted to do more. We managed to go through our entire run plan. The engineers were happy, the pace seemed good, so I think it was a successful day overall.

“There is a lot to learn and I already look forward to 2025 in my role as Reserve Driver and continuing my development.”

The 2025 F1 season begins in earnest in February, with pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit.