Jack Doohan

Jack Doohan (born 20 January 2003) is an Australian racing driver, currently serving as a reserve driver in Formula One for Alpine. Doohan most recently competed in the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship for Virtuosi.

Born and raised in Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan is the son of five-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion Mick Doohan. He began kart racing aged nine in a go-kart gifted to him by Michael Schumacher, winning multiple national titles. Graduating to junior formulae in 2018, Doohan started his career in the 2018 F4 British Championship. After finishing runner-up to Joey Alders in the 2019–20 F3 Asian Championship, Doohan progressed to FIA Formula 3 in 2020. He finished runner-up to Dennis Hauger the following season with Trident. Doohan then finished third in Formula 2 in with Virtuosi.

A member of the Red Bull Junior Team from 2018 to 2021, and the Alpine Academy since 2022, Doohan made his free practice debut in Formula One at the 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix. He is set to race for Alpine from onwards, replacing Esteban Ocon to partner Pierre Gasly.

Early and personal life

Jack Doohan was born on 20 January 2003 in Gold Coast, Queensland. Doohan is the son of five-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion Mick Doohan.

Early racing career

Karting

Doohan started karting competitively in 2012. He was given his first kart from former neighbor and 7-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher. He won the Australian Karting Championship in 2015 and 2016. Doohan had additional success the next year, finishing third in the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship and sixth in the World Championship.

Formula 4

Doohan started his single-seater career at the age of 15 in the F4 British Championship with the TRS Arden Junior Racing Team, alongside fellow Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger. He scored three wins throughout the season, with his first car racing victory coming at Thruxton. The Australian finished fifth in the standings, just one point behind Hauger.

That year Doohan also participated in both the German and Italian Formula 4 championships for Prema Powerteam on a part-time basis. He finished 12th and 20th in the standings respectively, scoring no podiums.

F3 Asian Championship

In 2019 Doohan made his first appearance in the F3 Asian Championship with Hitech Grand Prix. Driving for Hitech Grand Prix, the Aussie won five races and ended up second in the championship, 25 points adrift of the experienced Ukyo Sasahara.

The next winter he returned to the series with Pinnacle Motorsport. He once again finished in the runner-up spot, this time behind Joey Alders.

Euroformula Open

Doohan's main campaign in 2019 would lie in the Euroformula Open with Double R. The Australian finished on the podium twice, once at Hockenheimring and at the Red Bull Ring. Other than that, his season was average and Doohan ended 11th in the standings, and sixth in the rookies'.

FIA Formula 3 Championship

2020

In 2020 Doohan progressed to the FIA Formula 3 Championship, driving for HWA Racelab, partnering Jake Hughes and FDA-member Enzo Fittipaldi. Doohan's high point during the season was seventh in qualifying in Silverstone and topping practice in Spa-Francorchamps, but mainly his campaign was full of incidents and misfortune. Doohan did not score any points during the campaign, and with a best finish of eleventh place, which came at the final race in Mugello, he classified 26th in the drivers' championship. Despite describing the year as having been "very very tough", Doohan maintained that he had been able to learn more from it than he would have from a more successful season. He tested for Trident during post-season testing.

2021

For the 2021 season Doohan made the switch to Trident to partner Clément Novalak and David Schumacher. He started his season off strong with a second place in qualifying in Barcelona. He scored his first points with eighth in the second sprint race, and despite a slow start in the feature race, Doohan was able to take second and his first podium. Doohan qualified fourth in France, and drove solid races in the sprint races for eighth and fifth places. He would secure his first F3 victory after overtaking Dennis Hauger with a few laps to go. At the Red Bull Ring, Doohan qualified in seventh and finished in the same position in sprint race 1, but was promoted to third place due to numerous penalties from others ahead of him. He would finish seventh in the second sprint but was hit by Jak Crawford in the feature race, which caused a puncture that unravelled his race. In Budapest, Doohan qualified third. He had an average first sprint race, finishing ninth but fell back to 13th in the second sprint due to mechanical issues. He bettered that result and took third place in the feature race.

The following weekend in Spa-Francorchamps was where he achieved his biggest success of the campaign. Doohan took his first pole position on Friday by 0.7 seconds. Doohan ended 12th in the first sprint race, in which he revealed he purposely kept his spot to block off Dennis Hauger behind for reverse pole. Doohan would then controlled things perfectly and win both the second sprint race and the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps, even having a battle with Victor Martins in the latter race. This made him the first FIA Formula 3 driver to score two victories on the same weekend. He qualified fourth in Zandvoort and ended sixth in the first race. However, a mistake in the second race at Zandvoort cost him a heap of points, but managed to end fourth in the feature race. Doohan claimed pole in the final round in Sochi. A mistake by Doohan in the sprint race left him out of the points and Hauger to claim the title. Having defied team orders to let through his teammate Novalak during the race, Doohan won the last race, making sure that Trident were able to win the teams' championship by a measly four points.

Doohan remained in Formula 3 for post-season with newcomers Van Amersfoort Racing.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

2021

Doohan joined MP Motorsport for the final two rounds of the 2021 championship, replacing Richard Verschoor. He qualified 16th on his debut in Jeddah, and in the first sprint race, narrowly missed reverse pole by 0.08 seconds. In just his second race, Doohan avoided all chaos for his first points in fifth place. Doohan qualified a brilliant P2 in the Yas Marina finale. He once again scored points in the second sprint race, finishing eighth. His feature race ended in disappointment, as he spun into the barrier on the opening lap, ending his race. Doohan ended his partial F2 campaign 19th place in the standings with eight points.

2022

On 13 December 2021, it was announced that Doohan would join Virtuosi Racing alongside Marino Sato for the 2022 championship. His start to the season looked promising, as he would score pole position in the season opener at Bahrain. Doohan lacked pace in the sprint race and ended where he started. However, a collision with Théo Pourchaire at the pit exit during the feature race broke his front wing, taking the Australian out of the battle for the lead. He fell down to last but managed to recover to tenth place. Nevertheless, Doohan found positives in his performance, stating that he "ad beenas quick as anyone" during the race. Doohan qualified third in Jeddah, but unfortunately was disqualified from qualifying due to a technical infringement. He was involved in a race-ending collision with Logan Sargeant in the sprint race, where Doohan hit the back of Sargeant during a safety car restart, receiving a grid drop. He made another feature race recovery, finishing ninth.

Another disastrous round followed at Imola, where he qualified third for the feature race. After 11th in the sprint race, he would clash with Dennis Hauger at the start of the feature race, putting him out of the running. Nevertheless, the Australian soldiered on, taking another pole position in the fourth round in Barcelona. Setting his target towards "ettingsome points on the board" for the feature race, Doohan placed sixth in the sprint race after a good start. He would score his first podium of the season on Sunday, ending up second after being overtaken by championship leader Felipe Drugovich in the latter half of the race. Doohan qualified fifth in Monaco, but was promoted to third following penalties. Following finishing seventh in the sprint race, Doohan missed a second podium after he was jumped by Jüri Vips in the pit stops, settling for fourth place. His top 3 qualifying streak ended in Baku, securing only 11th. He had another weekend to forget, his sprint race was affected due to a collision, and a penalty for him in the feature race due to contact with Liam Lawson demoted Doohan to P13.

Doohan qualified seventh for the feature race in Silverstone. In the sprint race, Doohan would take his first victory of the season, fighting his way up to first in the sprint race in wet conditions. Starting on the alternate strategy for the feature race, Doohan continued to score points with ninth. He continued this form by scoring another podium at the Red Bull Ring. However, the podium would be a distant memory in the feature race as like many others, started on the wets on a drying track. This would be the wrong call and Doohan collected multiple penalties on the way to 19th place. Doohan qualified fourth for the Paul Ricard round and ended a hectic sprint race in the same position. He stormed into the lead during the feature race start, but was re-passed by Ayumu Iwasa in the next few corners. Following the pit stops, Doohan would spin trying to pass Pourchaire, and fell to fifth at the flag. In Budapest, the Australian would win once again, dominating the sprint race on Saturday from reverse pole. However, he had a gearbox failure on the opening lap of the feature race and was forced to retire.

After the summer break, Doohan experienced an exceptional round at Spa-Francorchamps, firstly qualifying fourth. He finished second in the sprint race after a good start, even passing Ralph Boschung on the last lap. After jumping to second in the start, Doohan would eventually undercut race leader Felipe Drugovich during the pit stops and claim his first F2 feature race victory.. Doohan qualified in second the next week at Zandvoort. and finished outside the points in ninth during the sprint. However, a collision with Richard Verschoor on a safety car restart left him unable to finish. He scored his third pole of the year at Monza. He ended sixth in the sprint race but he had another forgetful feature race, a bad start costing him and a subsequent collision with Jehan Daruvala brought about a premature end to his race once more. Doohan's horrid luck continued into the final round of the year at Yas Marina, where a loose wheel forced him to retire in the feature race, having finished seventh in the sprint race. He ended up sixth in the drivers' standings with 128 points, three wins, three poles, four fastest laps and six total podiums.

2023

Doohan partook in the 2022 post-season test, remaining with Virtuosi. Soon after, he was confirmed to continuing his relationship with the British outfit for the 2023 campaign, alongside Amaury Cordeel.

Doohan had a terrible opening round in Bahrain, a poor qualifying in P17 would not reward him with any points. The Australian was back on form in Jeddah, qualifying P4 and securing his first points of the season with seventh in the sprint race. In the feature race, Doohan made the most of mistakes from the leaders, and secured a second placed podium. In his Australia home race, an late red flag saw Doohan down in 15th for qualifying, having topped practice. He had a disappointing sprint race after being spun out by Juan Manuel Correa, but achieved eighth place in the feature race although more points was inevitable without an early safety car. The Australian had another disheartening weekend in Baku, an incident in the sprint and P16 in the feature race summarised another point-less weekend.

In Monaco, Doohan qualified in fourth and his sprint race was rather uneventful, ending in sixth place. In the feature race, he was running in fourth and set for a big haul of points until he crashed mid-race at Massenet corner. Barcelona saw Doohan back in the top 3 for qualifying. He would claim fifth place in the sprint race, but fell back in the feature race for sixth place. In Austria, Doohan qualified in fifth. A trip through the gravel ruined his chances of a good result, though he would fight back to seventh place. In the feature race, Doohan improved his place during the start to third, later passing Théo Pourchaire and was set for second place until a late safety car, where alternate strategy runners Richard Verschoor and Ayumu Iwasa passed him, dropping to fourth place. In Silverstone, Doohan secured fourth in qualifying. During the sprint race, he charged up the order whilst having a tense battle with Oliver Bearman. The Australian won out the fight, claiming third and his first podium since the second round. He had a solid feature race, finishing fourth during a hectic race.

In Hungary, Doohan made his mark by securing his first pole of the year. During the feature race, Doohan would go on to dominate the race, taking his maiden win of the season by nine seconds. In Spa-Francorchamps, Doohan would continue his form by topping practice, but qualified in a disappointing 11th. Doohan improved to fifth in the sprint race During the feature race, Doohan ran the alternate strategy and luck would go his way when the safety car was deployed late on. He pitted and emerged in second place, in which he overcame leader Pourchaire on the second last lap for consecutive feature race victories.

Aiming to continue his stunning run of form, he qualified fifth in Zandvoort. However, he failed to score any points, even failing to complete a lap in the feature race after spinning on a damp track. A messy qualifying in Monza saw Doohan only 14th, and numerous safety cars in the feature race limited him to only sixth place, knocking himself out of title contention. Doohan took pole position for the final race in Yas Marina. During the sprint race he gained four places to finish sixth. In the feature race he had a good start from pole position leading until he pitted on lap 10 for the medium tyres. He then controlled the race and won by 3.8 seconds which allowed him to jump Ayumu Iwasa for third place in the standings, securing three wins, five podiums, two pole positions and two fastest laps. Doohan exited Formula 2 at the end of 2023 in a bid to join Formula One for the season after spending two seasons in the former category.

At the Formula 2 end of season awards night Doohan received the inaugural Formula 2 Best Performance Award, an award he shared with Richard Verschoor.

Formula One

In September 2017 Doohan was signed to the Red Bull Junior Team. He left the academy following his 2021 season and signed to the Alpine Academy in 2022. Doohan described his switch as being a "no-brainer", stating that the F1 testing programme and the team's project within the World Endurance Championship gave him a myriad of opportunities for the future. He would get his first chance to test the Alpine A521 at the Losail International Circuit in May of that year. He then drove the car again at the Monza Circuit prior to the British Grand Prix weekend. In September, Doohan tested with the Alpine A521 at the Hungaroring, alongside Antonio Giovinazzi and Nyck de Vries. Doohan participated in his first free practice sessions (FP1) with Alpine at the and . He was even in discussions of a 2023 Formula One seat with the French outfit, but it was handed to Pierre Gasly. Doohan also took part in the post-season tests with the Alpine.

In 2023, Doohan was announced as the reserve driver for Alpine. Doohan partook in his first F1 test of the year in May, driving the A521 at Monza. Doohan again participated in the first free practice with Alpine at the . He completed 25 laps and ranked 18th overall. He drove again in Free Practice 1 for the with Alpine, finishing with the 13th fastest time. This was the fourth fastest time from the rookies participating in FP1, finishing behind Felipe Drugovich for Aston Martin, Robert Shwartzman for Ferrari and Frederik Vesti for Mercedes, but ahead of Theo Pourchaire for Alfa Romeo, Pato O'Ward for McLaren, Jake Dennis for Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar for AlphaTauri and Zak O'Sullivan for Williams. He then took part in the young drivers' test once again with Alpine, setting the seventh fastest time.

Doohan focused his 2024 campaign on being the reserve driver for Alpine, where he revealed his goal to join the Formula One grid for the season. In May 2024, Doohan completed his first test of the year with the Alpine A522 at Zandvoort. He would partake in the first free practice session for Alpine at the . Leading up to the , Doohan again drove the A522 at Circuit Paul Ricard as he was marked as one of the contenders for a seat with Alpine for 2025 in place of the departing Esteban Ocon. He would also drive for Alpine during FP1 for the aforementioned British Grand Prix.

Alpine (2025)

In August 2024, Alpine announced Doohan would drive alongside Pierre Gasly in the 2025 season. He is the first Alpine Academy driver to be promoted to the Formula One team.

Karting record

Karting career summary

^† As Doohan was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete CIK-FIA Karting European Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Racing record

Racing career summary

^† As Doohan was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete F4 British Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Italian F4 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of the race finishers)

Complete F3 Asian Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Euroformula Open Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One participations

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Doohan, Jack
2003 births
Living people
Racing drivers from Brisbane
British F4 Championship drivers
ADAC Formula 4 drivers
Italian F4 Championship drivers
FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers
F3 Asian Championship drivers
Arden International drivers
Prema Powerteam drivers
Double R Racing drivers
Hitech Grand Prix drivers
Pinnacle Motorsport drivers
HWA Team drivers
Trident Racing drivers
MP Motorsport drivers
FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers
Virtuosi Racing drivers
MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship drivers
Karting World Championship drivers
Racing drivers from Queensland
Sportspeople from the Gold Coast, Queensland