Written by Nathaniel French, Edited by Debargha Banerjee
Another piece of 2024’s frantic drivers’ market fell into place. After failing to land Williams-bound Carlos Sainz, Alpine decided to put their trust in the young Australian to fill the boots of the departing Esteban Ocon for 2025. He will partner Pierre Gasly at the French team.
But, who is the young Australian and what has led him to the pinnacle of motorsport?
Jack Doohan was born on January 20th 2003 in Queensland, Australia to father Motorcycle racing legend and 5 time 500cc World Champion, Mick Doohan.
He would begin karting in 2012 after being gifted his first kart from his then neighbour and F1 legend, Michael Schumacher. He would go on to win the Australian Karting Championship two years running in 2015 and 2016 before making the move to Europe.
Competing in the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship and World Karting Championship in 2017, he would finish third and sixth in the respective standings. Doohan would end the year by signing with the Red Bull academy.
2018 would see Doohan make his single seater debut in British Formula 4, pairing fellow Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger at TRS Arden. He would bag three wins and twelve podiums, only missing out on fourth in the standings to Hauger by a single point. That year also saw him compete in the Italian and German F4 championships on a part time basis, though never scored a podium in either.
A trip to Asia would see Jack partner with Hitech GP in the Formula 3 Asian Championship, and this would prove to be a highly successful collaboration. The Australian secured five wins on his way to the runner up spot. 2019 would also see Doohan compete in the Euroformula Open series, though an average season highlighted by two podiums saw him take home eleventh overall.
This successful run of form would, however, come to an end in 2020 as Doohan made the switch to the FIA F3 Championship. Driving a HWA car, which without the highly experienced Jake Hughes behind the wheel, looked average at best. Coupled with a number of incidents and misfortune, Doohan would not finish higher than eleventh, picking up zero points and completing the year in 26th.
A switch to Trident for his second season in FIA F3 would prove to be a fantastic decision. The young Australian challenged his old teammate Dennis Hauger for the title, taking four wins and seven podiums. However, he would come up short, finishing runner up to Hauger.
Sensing opportunities at Red Bull beginning to dry up, Doohan made the switch to the Alpine Academy in 2022. A rookie campaign in Formula 2 the same year and strong performances, including two wins, resulted in a sixth place finish in the standings.
A second year in the championship saw him struggle during the first half of the season. However, he would bounce back spectacularly in the latter rounds of the year, taking feature race wins in Hungary, Belgium and the season ender in Abu Dhabi to claim third place in the standings.
Doohan would be named as Alpine’s test and reserve driver in 2023, completing his first test session at Monza in May behind the wheel of the Alpine A521. Two FP1 sessions in Mexico and Abu Dhabi would follow; his year culminating at the young drivers’ test at Yas Marina, setting the seventh fastest time.
The Australian would decide to focus solely on his duties as a test and reserve driver for the 2024 season in an attempt to secure an F1 drive for 2025. Zandvoort played host to an F1 test in May, where he piloted the A522.
He would drive the current car during a rain affected FP1 session in Montreal, before completing a second test of the year at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, once again driving the A522. A second FP1 outing of the year came in Silverstone.
Off the track, Doohan has clocked up countless hours in the simulator, putting in long hours every Friday of European rounds to help the team with set-ups and calibrations. His concise and accurate feedback endeared himself to his Alpine colleagues and helped the team get the best out of a car that has struggled to be competitive for large parts of this season.
Jack Doohan may not grab the attention the same way other junior drivers have done in the recent past, nor those who will be - and those who are speculated to be - joining him in making their debuts next season.
Though, what Alpine will be getting with the young Australian is a driver who is incredibly hard working and has an ability to provide the crucial feedback necessary to set-up and develop a car.
It also allows an Alpine team who are, once again, in transition to reset and also evaluate a driver who’s been on their books for a number of years.
Though, with sources suggesting this deal is only in place for 2025, Doohan will have to hit the ground running if he is to convince the hierarchy to retain him past next year.
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