Jack Doohan

Alpine academy prospect Jack Doohan will make his Formula 1 racing debut at his home grand prix in Australia in 2025.

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free

In doing so, the 22-year-old will become the latest Australian F1 driver.

Doohan’s route to F1

Jack Doohan is not the first son of a world champion to make his way into F1. However, he is the first son of a Moto GP world champion to achieve it.

Jack’s exposure to motorsport was inevitable as his father, Mick Doohan, was a five-times 500cc Moto GP champion in the nineties and winner of 54 races.

2018 – Formula 4

Doohan’s motorsport career began, like so many do, in karting. His performance earned him the attention of Red Bull, who signed him up to join their junior driver programme when he entered into car racing at a Formula 4 level for 2018 aged only 15.

Racing in the British, German and Italian F4 championships that season, Doohan only completed a full campaign in the British championship with part-time schedule in the other two. Doohan had success in the British series, taking three race wins and 12 podiums on his way to fifth in the championship.

Doohan narrowly won that year’s rookies title from future Formula 2 rival Dennis Hauger, marking himself out as a talent of the future.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2019-21 – Formula 3

For the next year, Doohan stepped up into the Euroformula Open series. Although he scored a pair of podium finishes, he secured no victories or pole positions and ended the championship in 11th place, beaten by the likes of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson.

Jack Doohan, Trident, Hungaroring, 2021 — After tough 2020, Doohan broke through in 2021

But alongside Euroformula, Doohan also participated in the Formula 3 Asian Championship across Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and China. There he had much greater success, coming a clear second in a championship that was dominated by Ukyo Sasahara, who took the title with eight wins. Doohan’s five victories of his own showed that he had the potential to compete at F3 level, so it was little surprise when he moved into the FIA Formula 3 championship for 2020 to join the F1 support series for 2020.

Unfortunately for Doohan, his 2020 campaign with HWA was fruitless. As Oscar Piastri, Theo Pourchaire and Logan Sargeant battled it out for the championship, Doohan failed to score a single point all season with HWA, his best finish of 11th coming in the season finale at Mugello.

That disappointing season marked the end of Doohan’s time on the Red Bull junior programme. However, for the next year, he moved to Trident for his second attempt at Formula 3, and enjoyed a far more success campaign. Doohan took four race victories and seven podiums on his way to finishing second to Hauer in the championship.

2021-23 – Formula 2

Jack Doohan, F2, Abu Dhabi — Doohan impressed when he arrived in F2

After a fruitful second season in F3, Doohan got the opportunity to compete in the final two rounds of the F2 series with MP Motorsport in December in Jeddah and Yas Marina. He made a strong first impression, finishing fifth in his second race and then qualifying second on the front row of the grid behind Piastri in his second qualifying session in the series in Abu Dhabi.

Doohan’s strong 2021 earned him a call from Alpine, who invited him to join their driver academy alongside Piastri for 2022. He entered a full season of F2 that year with Virtuosi, taking three race victories and six podium finishes over his first full campaign in F2, finishing sixth in the championship.

Staying with Virtuosi for 2023, Doohan’s second campaign was an improvement. He finished third in the championship behind Pourchaire and fellow Alpine junior Victor Martins after another three-win season.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2022-24 – F1 reserve driver

Joining the Alpine academy would prove critical for Doohan’s F1 ambitions. After joining the programme for the start of the 2022 season, he was given his first run in a grand prix session in Friday practice for that year’s Mexican Grand Prix, before also driving weeks later in Abu Dhabi. Those opportunities came about after Piastri stunned Alpine by signing to join McLaren for 2023. Doohan therefore became the team’s main reserve driver and participated in the end of season young drivers test at Yas Marina.

Jack Doohan, Alpine, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2022 — Alpine gave Doohan his first taste of F1

Doohan was Alpine’s main reserve for 2023 through his second and final F2 campaign and remained so into 2024. Once again, he took part in Friday practice session runs for the team in Mexico and Abu Dhabi, as well as in Montreal and Silverstone in 2024.

Doohan also completed many hundreds of kilometres of testing for Alpine under their Testing of Previous Cars programme. While not racing for 2024, Doohan became a regular face on F1 TV as a pundit, offering a driver’s insight into the challenges of driving a modern ground effect Formula 1 car.

After a controversial clash with Pierre Gasly at Monaco, Esteban Ocon agreed to part ways with Alpine at the end of the season, leaving his seat free for 2025. At the end of the summer break, on the morning of the first day of practice at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix, Alpine officially confirmed Doohan would take Ocon’s seat and make his Formula 1 debut in 2025.