Jack Doohan is back on the bench at Alpine after losing his seat to Franco Colapinto. His F1 dream lasted just a quarter of the season.
While it hasn’t been definitively ruled out, it’s unlikely that Doohan races for Alpine again. And there’s a chance his career in the sport will only span seven races.
When Red Bull dropped Liam Lawson earlier this year, he was at least able to continue racing for Racing Bulls. Doohan, meanwhile, has returned to the reserve role he occupied last year.
The Australian got the seat in the first place after impressing as a support act to Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon last year. Paul Aron and Kush Maini are also part of Alpine’s roster.
Alpine’s press release said Colapinto was only guaranteed five races after taking over. But Flavio Briatore has since played down the possibility after another driver change in July.
F1 fans say ‘that must hurt’ as Jack Doohan back in Alpine’s Imola simulator
Doohan was defiant in his first social media post after his Alpine axe, telling his trainer that they’d be ‘back’. He posted another Instagram story on Friday evening that showed him tackling the Imola circuit in Alpine’s simulator.
Given that the story was shared after Friday’s sessions, it’s likely that he was carrying out some set-up work for Gasly and Colapinto. This is a key part of his remit, but F1 fans suspect he’s finding it very difficult.
“This is lowkey depressing,” one wrote on Reddit, while another simply used the word ‘pain’.
“The fact that he still has to work with Alpine after this is the worst part,” a fellow user said.
Doohan’s treatment was described as ‘sad’, with many viewers left feeling ‘so bad for him’.
“Ouch,” a final response read. “That must hurt.”
According to F1 photographer Kym Illman, Doohan will fly to Italy and join his team in the Imola paddock on Saturday. That could give him his first opportunity to publicly address his exit.
What Franco Colapinto said about Jack Doohan before making his Alpine debut
Colapinto voluntarily sent a message to Doohan as he sat down with the Spanish-speaking press in Imola. The change was widely expected, but has still proven to be controversial.
He called the Australian ‘a really good guy’ and said it was a ‘shame’ to return to F1 in these circumstances. It’s the second time he’s replaced a driver in-season after succeeding Logan Sargeant at Williams last year.
Doohan had the edge over Colapinto in F2, a spec series, but failed to score a point in an incident-laden start to the season.
Colapinto offers huge commercial incentives to Alpine, which may have made the difference for Briatore. He must cut out the accidents that tarnished his reputation at the end of his 2024 Williams stint.
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