Twist in Jack Doohan’s fight for F1 career as Aussie set to be handed massive lifeline

Australian F1 driver Jack Doohan has reportedly been assured of his Alpine seat until at least the summer break despite a tumultuous start to his rookie season with the French team.

The 22-year-old, having replaced Esteban Ocon at Alpine, has endured an incident-filled start to the 2025 season, headlined by heavy crashes in Australia and Japan. He was also penalised for collisions during last month’s sprint race in China.

Doohan showed signs of improvement during the recent Bahrain Grand Prix, narrowly missing out on a place in Q3, while he could have finished in the points if not for an ill-timed safety car and a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.

However, the recruitment of Argentina’s Franco Colapinto as Alpine’s reserve driver has fuelled speculation surrounding Doohan’s immediate future, with team advisor Flavio Briatore showing interest in the former Williams driver.

Meanwhile, reports suggested Alpine had a contractual option to replace Doohan, one of only four drivers yet to score points this season, as early as the Miami Grand Prix courtesy of a rumoured short-term race deal.

Despite murmurs of an early-season switch, German publication Auto Motor und Sport has reported that Doohan has been given a “grace period” until the summer break. The Race also reported that Doohan’s seat at Alpine would be secure until July.

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“He’s done a good job this weekend, and in general,” Alpine boss Oliver Oakes said of Doohan on Sunday.

“I know Japan FP1 caught him out a bit. But I think this weekend, particularly throughout qualifying, Q1, the first run of Q2 - I think the last run in Q2 he is a little bit disappointed.

“But then in the race as well, those first two stints, he was doing a really good job. At the end there, I think it was tricky. The safety car bunched everyone up. Competitiveness-wise, it was hard with those cars around you.

“But I think he’s had a good weekend.”

Oakes continued: “Jack, to give him credit, he’s learning well.

“You never get much credit in F1 when you’re a youngster and everyone’s sort of looking at what you’re up to. But I think he’ll definitely feel more confident after this weekend.”

Speaking after the race, Doohan told reporters: “It was so good until it wasn’t.

“So we just need to analyse and get this weekend to come together. There’s some strong points, just very unfortunate with the hard (tyre) and also there’s some things that I can look into to ensure that I can piece it all together.

“We’re going into another hot race next weekend and we just look to try to build from this and continue where we’ve left off - maybe not in my ultimate finishing position today, but in our pace.”

The F1 season resumes this weekend with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the race getting underway on Monday at 3am AEST.