Doohan contract end – Alpine’s private admission about Doohan revealed – As wait for the start of the 2025 Formula One season continued, the driver talk was all about Jack Doohan of Alpine and how long he would be racing for the team. Reports suggested his contract with the team was for just five of six races and then subject to a review.

Meanwhile the crafty old fox that is Flavio Briatore had signed Williams reserve driver Franco Colapinto, who impressed as he debuted for the sacked Logan Sargeant with none weekends of the 2024 season remaining.

The young Argentinian scored points in his second race, something Sargeant had been unable to do at all in his 37 F1 race career except for when Hamilton and Leclerc ahead of him were disqualified from the 2023 USGP. 

 

 

 

Doohan’s pace has been good

Such was the impact Colapinto made in F1 that even Christian Horner was sniffing around the Williams hospitality area in Sau Paulo, deep in conversation with James Vowles, reportedly exploring acquiring the driver as a replacement for Sergio Perez.

Doohan was announced as the Alpine driver for 2025 not long after Briatore assumed his role as ‘special advisor’ – de facto team boss – by Renault, but how much input he had into the decision is uncertain. Doohan is managed by Briatore yet the Italian’s loyalty to the Renault cause of turning around the Alpine fortunes will rank far higher than the management fee he receives while Doohan is racing in F1.

Doohan was controversially given the final weekend of 2024 racing the Alpine of departing Esteban Ocon. He qualified plumb last for the grand prix and finished only ahead of Kevin Magnussen whose race had been ruled by Haas strange pit stop strategy. 

The signs were good for the rookie Australia as in Melbourne he beat his team mate Gasly in the opening round qualifying. Yet this was as good as it was to get for Doohan as he crashed his Alpine into the barriers before lap one of the Grand Prix was completed. In China’s Sprint qualifying, the Aussie again was ahead of his team mate, though both were eliminated in SQ1.

Plans to eliminate boring Grand Prix

 

 

 

Alpine crashes the problem

The Sprint was not what the doctor ordered of Jack who finished  plumb last in the nineteen lap race nearly 40 seconds slower than his team mate. Doohan was again just a tenth slower than his team mate in Grand Prix qualifying and his P13 was the only classified result for Alpine as Gasly was disqualified for an underweight car.

Japan proved disastrous for Doohan, as his seat was given to an Alpine rookie for the crucial first practice session. In FP2 Doohan was on just his fourth lap of the weekend when he forgot to disengage his DRS into turn one, the resulting loss of downforce saw him slam into the barrier at around 180mph.

The impact clearly affected the rest of the Aussies weekend as he completed just 15 laps in final practice due to on going issues related to the crash, then with just 19 laps under his belt across the three practice sessions Jack faced the impossible task of deciding on a setup for qualifying.

Starting just P19 in the Grand Prix, the Alpine driver struggled during the race of attrition but came in a respectable P15 ahead of Hulkenberg, Lawson, Ocon, Bortoleto and Lance Stroll. Yet such was the impact of the crash on his body, Doohan was seen to be struggling to exit his car in parc ferme and required the assistance of one of there team’s mechanics.

Plans to eliminate boring F1 Grand Prix

 

 

 

Doohan “not guaranteed… the next race”

Sky Germany’s F1 pundit Ralf Schumacher believes Doohan may have run his last race weekend for Alpine. “He makes a lot of mistakes and isn’t fast enough. One more thing happened this week. Ryo Hirakawa, who got into the car in the first practice session, was right on par with Pierre Gasly. He got in and made this fatal mistake,” explained the former F1 driver adding: “He’s not guaranteed to be in the next race.”

1997 F1 champion and Sky UK driver analyst for the weekend in Japan, Jaques Villeneuve suggested that because Doohan knows his fate is already sealed, this is leading to the mistakes he makes. “The problem is [that] during the winter, we had a feeling that it was already decided that he wouldn’t finish the season,” explained the Canadian.

“That’s tough, because he’s heard those rumours as well. Some people in the team were saying, ‘Don’t worry, you’ve got a contract, you’re fine,’ but you always have that at the back of your mind. And when you’re driving with that in your mind, you’re not free, you make mistakes, you’re not relaxed, that will take away a few tenths here and there,” Villeneuve concluded.

That said reports are emerging now that Alpine team members speaking anonymously to F1 Photographer Kym Illman, believe Doohan is not yet done and his commitment to drive in Japan after such a huge crash has not gone unnoticed. Speaking to his YouTube channel Illman says: “He’s certainly been under extreme pressure at Alpine, with constant rumours that Franco Colapinto was going to take his seat.”

Why Colapinto absence in Japan indicated ‘death knell’ for Doohan

 

 

 

Team private admissions over Doohan

“I chatted with his team yesterday about the Franco rumours and they just reinforced the fact that he has a multi-year contract with Alpine and while there has been plenty of Franco talk, I think his courage yesterday will be well noted by the team.”

Yet despite the reluctance of the team to discuss Doohan’s future, prior to the weekend in Japan Franco Colapinto monstered a test where he was being assessed alongside Paul Aron, another contender for the Alpine drive.

When he’s kept his car on track, Doohan has been well in touch with the times set by his team mate Pierre Gasly, but being prone to crashing out of a session may be the criteria to brig the team to the decision enough is enough for Jack.

All this said, whilst Colapinto’s pace was impressive in his eleven Grand Prix weekends last season, he too made mistakes crashing twice in Brazil and again next time out in Las Vegas. Retiring from three of the last four Grand Prix of 2024 saw Red Bull lose interest in the Argentinian and look to their own juniors to replace Perez instead. 

Bahrain is a circuit where mistakes made are forgiven more than in Japan, with huge run off areas and no walls to dodge, Doohan can let his car fly without concerns of another car destroying crash into a wall. If he’s given the weekend, it may well be his last opportunity in F1 with Colapinto is chomping at the bit and Flavio desperate to improve Alpine’s fortunes.

Ferrari boss finally comments on Hamilton’s F1 start

 

 

 

 

McLaren dismiss Red Bull’s ability to challenge them in 2025

Given all the talk from Red Bull – when not taking and hiring drivers – has been about how awful their RB21 challenger for 2025 has turned out, seeing Max Verstappen sitting just one point behind McLaren’s Lando Norris after three Grand Prix and a Sprint is not too shabby a result.

The McLaren dominance in Australia was mitigated by wet conditions which cause Oscar Piastri to make a mistake and hand second place to Verstappen on a plate. The in China, again the McLarens looked ahead of the field only for them to mess up Sprint qualifying but claim their first 1-2 of the year in the race on Sunday.

Again expectations were high for the papaya liveried cars in the land of the rising sun, yet both made mistakes in their final qualifying runs whilst Verstappen pulled out ‘miracle’  lap claiming a crucial pole position by just 0.014seconds. All Max needed was to beat the McLaren’s into turn one in Suzuka and the race was his, which he did. The resurfaced circuit meant that tyre degradation was minimal which failed to showcase one of the MCL39’s strengths…. READ MORE