Jack Doohan will race alongside Pierre Gasly at Alpine in 2025 and will be amongst six rookies on the F1 grid. But his motor sport story is rather different from most.
As the son of five-time premier class motorcycle champion Mick, Jack grew up surrounded by high level motor sport and has been well supported in his rise through the ranks.
But while his talent arguably doesn’t match up to the likes of Kimi Antonelli or Oliver Bearman, he has still proven a tough operator with the ability to run wheel-to-wheel with the very best, contend for podium places and occasionally shock the paddock with a scarcely believable performance.
Here’s everything you need to know about Jack Doohan’s career so far.
Junior career
Doohan’s motor sport career began in a familiar fashion to many, as he started racing go-karts from a young age. By 13 he had clinched his first two titles — Australia’s KA2 and KA Junior category championship — and in 2017 he travelled to Europe where he placed third in the CIK-FIA European Karting Championship.
In 2018, he was signed to the illustrious Red Bull junior programme and made his single-seater debut in the British F4 championship, where he was crowned rookie champion after finishing fifth in the overall drivers’ standings.
The following year, he moved up the motor sport ladder to compete in Italian F4, the ADAC F4 Championship and the Asian F3 championship. He finished second in the latter, and repeated the result in that series the following year.
2020 presented perhaps Doohan’s biggest test yet, as he entered the FIA Formula 3 Championship and aimed to best the likes of Oscar Piastri, Theo Pourchaire, Logan Sargeant, and Frederik Vesti. He ultimately fell short of expectations, as he fell to 26th in the standings and failed to score a single point.
However, to his credit and determination, the Aussie bounced back to finish second in the 2021 F3 Championship — a result good enough to convince MP Motorsport that he was worthy of an F2 promotion.
Formula 2
Doohan contended the last six races of the 2021 F2 season, impressing onlookers as he scored points twice.
For 2022 he made the switch to Virtuosi Racing and also parted ways with Red Bull in order to join Alpine’s driver academy — which at the time only had one other member in Oscar Piastri.
Nevertheless, Doohan continued to impress as he secured his first feature race win at Spa-Francorchamps and ultimately finished sixth in the drivers’ standings. The following year he contended for the title, but despite eye-catching feature race wins in Budapest, Spa and Yas Marina, he fell short to Frederik Vesti and Theo Pourchaire.
Wanting to progress his career, Doohan was not entered into the 2024 F2 season and instead became a full-time reserve for the Alpine F1 team.
F1 promotion
After a long period spent on the sidelines and behind the scenes doing simulator work, Doohan finally earned his big F1 break at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — home to the season finale.
The Aussie had already been announced as Pierre Gasly’s 2025 team-mate earlier in the season, but after the French outfit decided to cut Esteban Ocon’s contract short, Doohan was given the chance to hop into the F1 hot seat early.
It was not his first experience of a F1 race weekend, as he had previously completed several FP1 outings for Alpine and also turned heads during a private test at Le Castellet, France. But despite his relative naivety, Doohan drove commendably on debut, qualifying 20th and finishing 15th.
There was a brief time when Doohan’s F1 seat looked under threat already, as Alpine showed growing interest in Franco Colapinto. But the Enstone outfit has now seemingly committed to Doohan, who will compete for the team across the 2025 F1 campaign.
