F1: who is Jack Doohan, the owner of the seat that Franco Colapinto dreams of in Alpine?

The Australian has been a member of the French team since 2022, when he joined as an academy driver. From his attempt on motorcycles, like his father Mick, to his arrival in the top category, this was his campaign.

The blood pulls, but to a certain point… Jack Doohan has speed in his veins. His father, Mick, was a five-time world motorcycling champion. (1994-1998) in 500cc, the current MotoGP and he was one of the best riders in history. Little Jack, born on January 20, 2003 on the Gold Coast, also tried his hand at two wheels. But a bad accident he suffered as a child, which left him with a broken leg, was enough. Perhaps inside him it was added to know that his father was on the verge of having his leg amputated after a tremendous accident in Assen in 1992, before reaching stardom. Jack decided to start with four wheels and entered the world of karting.

After winning national titles in karting and being third in the European championship in 2017, he finally The jump to cars came in 2018. He debuted in British Formula 4 with the Arden team and achieved three wins to finish fifth in the tournament and as the best rookie. Dennis Hauger was among his rivals. In that same season he participated in some Italian F4 races. (Enzo Fittipaldi was the champion) and of the German F4 (Liam Lawson was runner-up to Lirim Zendeli). In addition, he was recruited by the Red Bull Junior Team, the youth team of the Milton Keynes team. In 2019 he was runner-up in the Asian F3, a tournament won by Ukyo Sasahara (today, a Japanese Super Formula driver). In that same year he participated in the Euroformula Open. In 2020, in the middle of the Covid pandemic, the Aussie arrived in Formula 3.

His first season opening the World Cup was disappointing: He did not score points with the HWA Racelab team. For 2021 he changed teams, moved to Trident and the results improved significantly. He won four races and was runner-up to Dennis Hauger. In 2022, the Australian entered the Alpine Academy and took part in the first free practice in Mexico and Abu Dhabi. In addition, he won three races in Formula 2 and finished sixth in the tournament. In 2023, with the Invicta team, he was third in F2 (celebrated three successes) and was in the first round of the Mexican and Abu Dhabi GPs. In 2024 he was Alpine’s reserve driver for the entire season, in August he was announced as a starter for 2025 and had his anticipated debut in Abu Dhabi, after the French team cut ties with Esteban Ocon.

The rumor suggests that Doohan has a guaranteed contract for the first five races, something difficult to know because the links between drivers and teams are kept under seven keys.. In any case, the agreements signed in F1 can be a mere formality. Ask, for example, Logan Sargeant, who had secured on paper all of 2024 with Williams and for the last nine races was replaced by Franco Colapinto. The Australian, regardless of what he has signed, knows that he has to perform, like everyone. Thus in Formula 1, there is no justice or injustice, it is competition and results. Doohan is the master of his destiny in that crusher called F1. The Argentine, meanwhile, waits crouching.