Two drivers who won’t look back at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix with too much fondness are Ferrari star Lewis Hamilton and Alpine rookie Jack Doohan.
Lewis Hamilton has won four times at Suzuka during his career, but not since 2018 as he watched Max Verstappen continue his dominance in Japan.
Ferrari haven’t started the season in the way they would have liked, and Jacques Villeneuve was concerned by Hamilton’s onboard footage during the race as he struggled to a P7 finish.
However, Jack Doohan and Alpine would both have snapped up the six points that come with finishing seventh after their torrid start to 2025.
Alpine’s decision to swap out Doohan for Ryo Hirakawa in FP1 has been criticised, particularly as he found the barriers just five laps into his first practice session later that day at high speed.
Although Doohan continued for the rest of the race weekend, he could only qualify P19.
While he made up more positions than any other driver during Sunday’s race, overtaking four cars to finish 15th, he still finished behind teammate Pierre Gasly and nowhere near the points, with Alpine the only team yet to get off the mark.
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Lewis Hamilton spotted ‘validating’ Jack Doohan’s opinions at the Japanese Grand Prix
Hamilton and Doohan were two of the only drivers to attempt an alternative strategy in Japan on Sunday.
Alpine put Doohan on the soft tyres, hoping he could make some early progress through the pack, or benefit from an early safety car that never came.
Ferrari, on the other hand, put Hamilton on the hard tyres in the hope that he could run longer than his rivals.
Unfortunately, there was virtually no tyre degradation throughout the race, which penalised Hamilton but did allow Doohan to make up several positions.
Journalist Julianne Cerasoli posted a photo of the two drivers together on X after the race and said: “In this conversation, Lewis was validating all the impressions that Jack had on his debut in Suzuka, about the most complicated sections for him.”
Lewis tava validando nessa conversa todas as impressões que Jack teve na estreia em Suzuka, sobre os trechos mais complicados pra ele.#F1 pic.twitter.com/QRHBbhFZlY
— Julianne Cerasoli (@jucerasoli) April 6, 2025
Hamilton has given advice to Antonelli this season, highlighting that he’s happy to help the rookies whenever he can.
Doohan may be asking the seven-time world champion for advice on how to keep his race seat soon, with the pressure constantly increasing on the young Australian.
READ MORE: Who is Alpine F1 driver Jack Doohan? All to know from his girlfriend to dad
Jack Doohan told he’s not guaranteed a place on the grid at the Bahrain Grand Prix
Unfortunately for Doohan, he’s been under pressure ever since the start of the season.
Alpine signed a host of reserve drivers over the winter, although Hirakawa has just joined Haas following his FP1 outing for the team earlier in the weekend.
Welcoming Ryō Hirakawa to MoneyGram Haas F1 Team as our Official Reserve Driver for the 2025 F1 season.
The Japanese driver joins the team following a successful outing at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi last December.#HaasF1 #F1 | @ryohirakawa pic.twitter.com/vFZAUD0eed
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) April 7, 2025
However, Ralf Schumacher doesn’t think Doohan is guaranteed to be in Bahrain after three mixed weekends.
He crashed at his home race in Australia, picked up four penalty points in China and his terrifying crash in practice in Japan would have cost the team a lot of money.
Franco Colapinto will be chomping at the bit to replace Doohan and was taking part in a TPC test over the weekend.
Jacques Villeneuve warned Doohan about the mistakes he’s making that could impact his F1 future, he now needs to hope that he’s given enough time to prove he’s worthy of a place on the grid.
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