‘Brilliant’ F1 rookie may be far better than everyone expected, he’s proving Martin Brundle wrong

Formula 1’s 2025 rookies have had a mixed start to the season. Some are even exceeding expectations.

Kimi Antonelli has been by far the most impressive after his performance in the Australian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver recovered from being eliminated in Q1 to finish fourth from P16 on his F1 debut.

Of the six new full-time drivers, only one other finished the race besides Antonelli. Oliver Bearman brought his Haas home in 14th after a miserable weekend – he crashed in FP1, spun in FP3 and had a power unit issue in qualifying that meant he could not set a time.

The other four rookies crashed out of the race – Isack Hadjar finding the wall on the formation lap. Jack Doohan hit the wall at turn five on the opening lap while Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson both crashed during the second rain shower.

Doohan’s crash was ‘very bad news’ given the pressure he is facing at Alpine. The Aussie is under threat of losing his seat to Franco Colapinto potentially before the summer break.

Doohan is reportedly contracted for six races, giving him – in theory – until Miami to prove his worth in F1. While many may think it is game over for the 22-year-old already, he may be performing far better than others thought he would.

Jack Doohan is proving Martin Brundle wrong as he’s been close to Pierre Gasly’s pace so far in 2025

Before the season started, Sky Sports pundits Martin Brundle and Naomi Schiff predicted how the 2025 intra-team battles would play out For Alpine, it was not a surprise to see them predict Pierre Gasly to beat Doohan.

Brundle said Gasly would ‘absolutely lead the team’ this season, suggesting Doohan would not get close to his experienced teammate. Schiff felt that the Frenchman would benefit from not having Esteban Ocon on the other side of the garage, given the numerous collisions they had as teammates.

While the Aussie crashed on lap one at his home race, Doohan’s ‘underlying’ speed was similar to Gasly’s. In fact, he was within a couple hundredths of a second to the Frenchman.

Gasly is a strong benchmark for the 22-year-old to match and thus far he is giving Alpine no reason to drop him. Team boss Oliver Oakes admitted the Enstone-based outfit created ‘a lot of noise’ around Doohan’s future and stressed he did a ‘brilliant’ job in Australia despite his crash.

“Yeah, I mean, look, there’s a balance, isn’t there? There’s the aspect of we want to have a good line-up, also want to have some good drivers in the pipeline,” said Oakes during the team principal press conference in Shanghai.

“And I think by doing that, we obviously created a little bit of noise around him. But credit to him that he’s got down to business as soon as the season started, and the job he did in Australia was brilliant.

“Obviously, we saw a couple of people getting caught out on Sunday with the conditions, but that’s to be expected when you’re a rookie. He just needs to dust himself off and go again, which this morning he did a good job straight away.

“A little bit of a frustration there with a failure at the end, but he was doing a good start to the weekend again.”

READ MORE: Who is Alpine F1 driver Jack Doohan? All to know from his girlfriend to dad

Jack Doohan kept pace with Pierre Gasly in Australia – exactly what Alpine want to see

Flavio Briatore is a keen admirer of Colapinto from his time at Williams last season. While it has not been officially confirmed, the Argentine’s long-term contract and the fee paid from Alpine suggest he will be in one of their cars at some stage.

But if the team’s current drivers perform, the 21-year-old will not have a way in. Doohan must match Gasly to save his seat, and that is exactly what the Aussie is doing.

The 23-year-old beat Gasly in FP1 and FP2 in Australia. He carried the momentum into Shanghai as he outqualified his teammate for the Sprint race – albeit they were both eliminated in SQ1.

Oakes ‘really liked’ Doohan’s reaction to his crash in Melbourne as he did not let him bring him down. He may have limited time to save his career, but the rookie seems to be in Alpine’s good books so far.