A home Formula 1 race is both blessing and curse for any driver – no matter what PR guff they spout about finding extra performance on familiar circuits. But for Alpine driver Jack Doohan, there is slightly more going in Melbourne this weekend.
First up, he’s the final driver in our rookie series to technically not fulfil that criteria – given his outing in last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he learned he needs to alter his grip on an F1 steering wheel to avoid post-race thumb pain.
At the same time, this means there are many other things he’s already taken in. These include understanding F1’s delayed/aborted start rules in the wake of the penalties dished out to much more experienced racers at the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix.
But Doohan’s compatriot Oscar Piastri has admitted “I'm probably glad Melbourne wasn't the opener in my rookie season, because that would have been pretty full on”. And, despite his one-race F1 experience last year, this weekend is going to be exactly that for new Alpine racer.
He was in Brazil as the team’s reserve driver – a role that had him at all 24 races last year, with Doohan working in Alpine’s sim on every Friday where a race was less than a three-hour flight away, allowing him to reach the paddock and complete his stand-by duties (and many media appearances early on) after helping Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon tweak their set-ups from afar.
But Alpine was not Doohan’s first junior backer – that was Red Bull between 2017-2021. It was with the energy drinks giant’s junior team that Doohan arrived in Europe as an Australian karting champion to compete in the 2018 British Formula 4 season.
Famously, he’s the son of five-time 500cc world champion Mick Doohan, but breaking his leg on a bike as a child led the younger Doohan down the four-wheeled path.
Watch: How F1 drivers are handling the pressure at the Australian Grand Prix
After his F4 campaign (which also included outings in the Italian and German varieties), he then reached Formula 3 after winning races at a regional level for such machinery in 2020. He was F3 runner-up in 2021 before commencing two seasons in Formula 2.
These featured only sporadic periods of success, but his final campaign at the top of the F1 feeder series ladder – where he finished third – was undermined by a cracked chassis early in the season.
As well as acting as Alpine’s reserve driver in 2024, Doohan was given a hefty Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme – having joined the team’s junior scheme when Piastri was going through a similar process of F1 preparation before slipping off to join McLaren in 2022.
Alpine looked at keeping Doohan race fresh with a slot in its World Endurance Championship Hypercar team in 2024, but it was decided this would detract too much from his F1 reserve duties.
Ultimately, it took Alpine to axe Ocon and then miss out on signing Carlos Sainz for Doohan to get his F1 break and the team then lost a race with Mercedes to get the 22-year-old his preferred race number for the 2025 campaign.
He had wanted to run #12, but after Mercedes got its paperwork lodged with the FIA for Andrea Kimi Antonelli to use that for his own debut this year first, Doohan settled on #7 – which he used back in 2019 and picked for its historic links to Kimi Raikkonen one of his “idols”.
To even reach that point, Doohan had had to engage Alpine WEC racer and former Haas F1 driver Mick Schumacher in a test shootout at Paul Ricard – always denied as being in such terms by the team, although Netflix cameras were invited.
Doohan was then given that surprise Abu Dhabi debut as Alpine’s relationship with Ocon imploded, where he qualified last and finished 15th.
For all the excitement of Doohan’s start to life as a full-time F1 driver, the hurdles haven’t stopped coming. And it was Alpine, largely, that put them there.
The team signed temporary 2024 Williams driver Franco Colapinto to be one of its four reserve drivers and it has been suggested it even paid to secure the Argentine’s services.
This has unleashed speculation that Doohan’s contract has a clause that guarantees him just a limited number of races in 2025. Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes didn’t deny this in the recent Bahrain pre-season test.
Doohan bit back at questions about this situation at F175 Live in London last month, which pleased Alpine’s management.
Inevitably, the topic came up again in the pre-event press conference in Melbourne on Thursday, to which Doohan replied: “Great question!
“To be honest, I haven't been thinking about any of that. Because there's no point thinking about rumours or commenting on them. I have a contract for at least this year, if not more.
“I look forward to many home grands prix. And the uncertainties, you don't bother worrying about them anyway. I have to perform each and every time I'm in the car, regardless of if I have one guy chasing my seat.
“We actually have four now. Not just Franco probably wants in my seat, if not Pierre's as well. And I wanted their seats while I was reserve driver the last two years. I'm going to enjoy every race as it's my last because I want to enjoy each and every moment I'm in the car.”
But, from the impressively savage shut down of the topic in a room packed with essentially just the F1 press corps at the O2, Doohan’s reply this time was far more genial.
A broad grin followed his initial reply as laughter echoed around the room in Melbourne.
And this is ultimately his only choice. He needs to enjoy what he can amid an awkward situation his team has created and hope it helps him reach his best performance level fast.
Heaping pressure on drivers is just how team executive advisor Flavio Briatore operates.
