Australia closer to three drivers on F1 grid as Jack Doohan nod ...

Jack Doohan will become Australia’s next Formula 1 driver after signing a contract with the Alpine team for 2025.

Doohan, currently Alpine’s reserve driver, will make his Formula 1 debut in front of his home crowd at next year’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne.

The son of Aussie motorcycling legend Mick Doohan, he will partner Alpine incumbent Pierre Gasly in what the French-owned British-based team says will be “a balance of youth and experience in its driver line-up geared towards building a successful future”.

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“I am so happy to secure promotion into a full-time race seat in 2025,” Doohan said. “I am very grateful for the trust and belief by the team’s senior management.

“There is so much work ahead to be prepared and ready, and I will give my best in the meantime to absorb as much information and knowledge to be ready for the step up.

“It’s an exciting moment, a proud day for my family, and I look forward to taking it all in and pushing hard behind the scenes.”

New team principal Oliver Oakes, who replace Bruno Famin this week, said Doohan’s capacity as a grand prix driver has been clear for years.

“Personally, I have worked with Jack back in 2019 and I am fully aware of his raw talent and potential,” Oakes said. “He is a very hard worker behind the scenes and his commitment is hugely valued by the entire team.

“Alongside Pierre, we have a well-balanced driver line-up with a good combination between youthful energy, experience, and pure speed.

“We look forward to working with both Jack and Pierre in order to keep developing the car and bring the team up the grid.”

Doohan, 21 years old, will be the 19th Australian to enter a grand prix and the 16th to start a race. The Gold Coast native will be Australia’s first grand prix driver to hail from Queensland.

Australia is guaranteed at least two drivers on next year’s grid, with Oscar Piastri locked down at McLaren on a long-term deal.

Daniel Ricciardo remains unsigned at RB and is under threat from New Zealander Liam Lawson but has claimed the Red Bull program will find room for him on the grid if he continues performing at the high level he demonstrated before the mid-season break.

If Ricciardo retains his place, Doohan’s elevation will see three Australians competing in the top flight for the first time in almost half a century.

The first and only time three Aussies shared the grid was in 1976, when Alan Jones (Surtees), Larry Perkins (Brabham) and one-time starter Warwick Brown (Wolf-Williams) shared the grid at the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.

The 1977 British Grand Prix featured Jones, Vern Schuppan and Brian McGuire on the entry list, though McGuire failed to prequalify for the race.

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Alpine’s decision to promote Doohan off the reserves bench is vindication for the team’s driver development program, with the Aussie young gun the first among its ranks to make an F1 debut in the squad’s colours.

Both Zhou Guanyu and Piastri are Alpine alumni, but the team released Zhou to make his debut for Alfa Romeo, now Sauber, in 2022, while Piastri slipped through the team’s grasp in a messy contract dispute that same year, allowing him to join McLaren last season.

“It’s exceptionally satisfying to be the first graduate of the Alpine Academy to be in a race seat with the team,” Doohan added. “I’m extremely thankful to those who supported me along the way to make this a reality.”

The promotion also validates Doohan’s risky decision to forgo racing this season in favour of embedding himself in the Alpine team as a full-time reserve driver.

Doohan passed up chances to recontest Formula 2 or enter other categories in 2024, choosing instead to keep himself front of mind of management in a year both Gasly and the Haas-bound Esteban Ocon were out of contract.

His reserve role came with an extensive private testing program that will see him complete 5000 kilometres of track time in old Alpine cars by the end of the year, including the 2022 machine, the first built to the current regulations.

It’s also seen him enter two FP1 sessions so far this season, following his four practice appearance over the previous two years.

The team said he will continue testing old-spec Alpine cars and working in the simulator for the rest of the season before transitioning to duties as a full-time driver.

His speed during private testing, his industriousness during FP1 sessions and his off-track attitude combined to earn him his first full-time grand prix contract for 2025.

Jack Doohan will suit up for Alpine in 2025. (Photo by James Bearne/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

WHO IS JACK DOOHAN?

The son of five-time 500cc motorcycle champion and Australian sporting legend Mick Doohan, Jack Doohan has racing in his blood.

Doohan was born on 20 January 2003, at the height of Michael Schumacher mania, a coincidence that would prove meaningful to Doohan’s life trajectory.

Doohan Sr and Schumacher are long-time friends, and it was from the seven-time F1 champion that Doohan Jr received his first kart at just three years old.

The gift would prove pivotal, though it would take a broken leg for Doohan to realise it. Having first appeared set to follow in his father’s footsteps on two wheels, a dirt bike injury at just five years old pushed him away from motorcycling and into the comparatively safer world of four-wheel motorsport.

By 2015 he was a junior Australian karting champion, and he backed up the following season with another title in a higher class.

By 2016 he was dipping his toe into European racing, finishing third in the prestigious European Karting Championship, through which several F1 champions have first identified themselves as future greats.

In 2018 he transitioned into cars, finishing fifth in the British Formula 4 championship, and in 2019 and 2020 he was a close runner-up in the regional Asian Formula 3 championship.

Those results springboarded him into FIA Formula 3, his first international series, earning him a place on the F1 undercard.

His first year was HWA was uninspiring, but he was superb at his second attempt in 2021, finishing second after switching to the Trident team, which he helped to its first and to date only F3 constructors title.

It was a momentous season for the Aussie off track as well, switching from the decorated Red Bull driver development program to join Alpine, where he was sold on having a closer relationship with the F1 operation that he hoped would turbocharge his grand prix chances.

Jack and Mick Doohan. (Photo by James Bearne/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

With the French brand’s backing, Doohan moved up to Formula 2 in 2022, collecting three wins on his way to sixth in a highly competitive season.

He also became the team’s senior reserve driver that year following the Piastri contract saga, pairing his duties with his junior racing program.

By now hype was building around the Australian, and he entered the 2023 campaign as a title favourite.

But the year didn’t go to plan thanks to a cracked chassis, which his Virtuosi Racing team was slow to diagnose. Once the problem was resolved, Doohan made himself the highest scoring driver in the final five rounds of the season, surging to third in the standings and just 35 points off the title lead but too late to contend for the crown.

Alpine kept the faith, having seen what Doohan was capable in a functioning car, and backed him to commit to a full-time reserve program this year.

The Australian has been pivotal to the team’s resurgence from a dire start to the campaign, with his reserve duties including simulator work hailed as integral to the A524’s improving performances in recent months.

That work, combined with his private testing program and off-track attitude, has him highly regarded by the team.

Only a change of management before the mid-season break proved a potential hurdle to his 2025 elevation, with executive adviser Flavio Briatore pursuing Carlos Sainz as a statement signing.

When Sainz committed to Williams earlier this month, Doohan became the obvious choice, with the announcement today the culmination of the Australian’s rise through the global motorsport ranks.