Who is Jack Doohan and How Did He Get F1 Alpine Ride for 2025

• Jack Doohan finished third in last season’s Formula 2 championship.

• He has not raced in 2024 in order to focus on his reserve position with the Alpine Formula 1 team.

• Doohan is replacing Esteban Ocon, who is moving to Haas in 2025.

Alpine has promoted Jack Doohan to a Formula 1 race seat for the 2025 season, completing the team’s driver lineup.

Doohan, 21, has been associated with Alpine since 2022 and last year stepped up to the role of reserve driver. He finished third in last season’s Formula 2 championship and has not raced in 2024 in order to focus on his reserve position at Alpine.

Doohan, the son of motorcycle legend Mick Doohan, has participated in six practice sessions across the last three years with Alpine, as well as private test days.

Alpine had a vacancy for 2025 in the wake of it splitting from Esteban Ocon and it has opted to promote Doohan alongside incumbent Pierre Gasly.

“I am so happy to secure promotion into a full-time race seat in 2025 with Alpine,” Doohan said. “I am very grateful for the trust and belief by the team’s senior management. There is so much work ahead to be prepared and ready and I will give my best in the meantime to absorb as much information and knowledge to be ready for the step up.

“It's an exciting moment, a proud day for my family, and I look forward to taking it all in and pushing hard behind the scenes.”

Doohan’s elevation to a race seat means that Australia could have as many as three representatives on next year’s grid, with Oscar Piastri on a long-term deal at McLaren, though Daniel Ricciardo—currently racing for RB—is unconfirmed beyond 2024.

Doohan is one of two confirmed full-time rookies on the 2025 grid, alongside Haas’ Oliver Bearman, while Mercedes is widely anticipated to promote protégé Andrea Kimi Antonelli to partner with George Russell.

Doohan’s Path to F1

Doohan’s father Mick was one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, winning five straight premier class titles—in what is now MotoGP—from 1994 through 1998.

The younger Doohan set about on a four-wheeled trajectory and had a steady start to single-seater competition while supported by Red Bull.

A breakthrough campaign came in 2021, when he was runner-up in Formula 3, after which he stepped up to Formula 2 and left Red Bull to join Alpine’s scheme.

That led to a greater involvement in a Formula 1 team while he also emerged as a front-runner in Formula 2, finishing the season sixth, with three victories.

A title bid was anticipated in Formula 2 in 2023 but a slow start to the year—with Doohan hampered by a car issue—torpedoed his prospects. A mid-season breakthrough transformed his prospects and Doohan was the strongest competitor across the second half of 2023, scoring three wins, to rally to third in the championship.

The affable Doohan opted against a racing program for 2024 in order to focus on his reserve duties with Alpine, firmly embedding himself within the organization, setting himself the goal of a 2025 race seat.

That was always reliant on one of Pierre Gasly or Esteban Ocon leaving, and Ocon’s departure opened the door for Doohan, though Alpine bided its time as it weighed up its options, and courted Carlos Sainz before the Spaniard opted for Williams.

Doohan’s perseverance has now paid off and he will step up to a full-time seat in 2025. Expectations will be low, given his inexperience and Alpine’s rebuilding status, but it is an opportunity he will grab with both hands.

Silly Season Silliness Not Done Yet

Confirmation of Doohan’s seat means there are now only three vacancies on the 2025 grid, at Mercedes—which is expected to be filled by Antonelli—RB and Sauber.

RB is expected to be a straight fight between Daniel Ricciardo and reserve Liam Lawson, who contested five races last year when Ricciardo was sidelined through injury.

“I know that performance is my best friend, and if I do what I know I’m capable of it puts me in a good position to stay somewhere in the family next year. I’ve just got to focus on that,” Ricciardo said on Thursday. “Liam did a great job last year, I do think he’s worthy of a seat next year, he is a deserving driver, so then what that means for me… probably a little bit unknown but if I perform then I’m sure they’ll find a spot for me somewhere.”

Ricciardo added that he has not held talks with any teams outside of the Red Bull umbrella.

“It's an all-in approach, but I think that approach will also get the most out of me,” he said. If that's not enough, c'est la vie, but I think that will also bring… it kind of intensifies it, but also simplifies it. I think it's the best approach. It's not coming from a stubborn place, but I don't really want to be anywhere else, either.”

Sauber, which has already signed Nico Hulkenberg from Haas, had long targeted Carlos Sainz, but his pre-summer commitment to Williams has boosted the prospects of incumbent Valtteri Bottas

“It did feel for the last six months or so that I wasn't the top priority,” Bottas said. “Obviously, there was one signing before me, and obviously the team and the management looking for all the options with some guys, so there was quite little communication.”

Bottas had a fractious relationship with Sauber’s previous management, but the outfit underwent a change prior to the summer break, with ex-Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto taking overall charge of the company.

Current Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley will join as Sauber’s new team principal in mid-2025.

“Now it's it feels a bit different,” Bottas said. “There was a clear reset. Now there's a clear structure at the top, who's doing what, and I think that's positive going forward. And, you know, Mattia comes from a team that has been super successful. He knows what a good team really needs. So, I think this is good for the future of this team.”