Jack Doohan will become a Grand Prix driver in 2025, signing for Alpine, where he will partner the team's current leader, Frenchman Pierre Gasly.
Doohan has been Alpine’s reserve driver since 2023. Between 2023 and 2024, he undertook an extensive testing programme to prepare for his opportunity to race in Formula 1. He will replace 2021 Hungarian GP winner Esteban Ocon, who will move to Haas for 2025, partnered by current Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman.
The son of five-time motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan, the younger Doohan has not raced in any series in 2024 to focus on his reserve rider duties. These include late-night simulator sessions to assist Gasly and Ocon over the weekend before joining the team on track for qualifying onwards.
The Australian team is managed by recently appointed Alpine consultant Flavio Briatore, who balances his commitments to Doohan and the Anglo-French team with looking after the affairs of his long-standing client Fernando Alonso.
For the remainder of 2024, he will remain Alpine's reserve driver and continue his testing programme in the team's 2022 A522 car.
“I am so pleased to secure promotion to a full-time driver seat in 2025 with BWT Alpine F1 Team,” Doohan said in an Alpine press release. “I am very grateful for the trust and belief from the team’s senior management.
“There is so much work to be done to be prepared and ready and in the meantime I will do my best to absorb as much information and knowledge as possible to be ready for the next step. It is exceptionally rewarding to be the first Alpine Academy graduate to sit in a racing seat with the team and I am extremely grateful to those who have supported me along the way to make this a reality.
“It’s an exciting moment, a proud day for my family and I can’t wait to enjoy it all and work hard behind the scenes.”
The Rise and Fall of Jack Doohan
Photo: Alpine Media
Instead of following in his father’s footsteps, the 21-year-old from the Gold Coast got his start in racing thanks to a famous family friend. Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, Mick’s former neighbor in Monaco, gave Doohan and his sister go-karts when he was three, starting his journey to F1.
His karting record showed early glimpses of his natural talent. He became Australian champion back-to-back in 2015 and 2016, earning him the support of Red Bull, who signed him to their junior team for 2017. After finishing third in the European Karting Championship, he finally made the switch to cars in 2018.
Moving to the British F4 championship, Doohan finished fifth with three wins. He also had brief cameos in the Italian and German F4 series.
In 2019, he moved to the Euroformula Open Championship with the Double R team, but had a difficult season, finishing 12th in the final standings. A move to the official Formula 3 championship with HWA Racelab in 2020 also failed to pay off, as he failed to score a single point all season.
But 2021 was a turning point in Doohan’s career. Now riding for leading team Trident, the Australian enjoyed a remarkable second season, winning four times and finishing second to Dennis Hauger, helping the Italian secure the team title.
In the winter of 2021 he decided to leave the Red Bull family and join the Alpine Academy, moving up to Formula 2 with the UNI-Virtuosi team for 2022.
His first season in F2 was a positive one. He took three wins en route to sixth in the drivers’ championship. He also made his debut in an official F1 session, representing Alpine in FP1 at the Mexico City and Abu Dhabi GP weekends.
Despite failing to mount a title push in 2023, Doohan secured another trio of wins for UNI-Virtuosi, finishing third in the standings behind eventual champion Theo Pourchaire. With the sudden departure of compatriot Oscar Piastri to McLaren in 2022, he was promoted to Alpine’s reserve driver, taking part in two more FP1s again in Mexico and Abu Dhabi.