Jack Doohan lost his childhood dream of an F1 seat. He opens about the ‘brutal’ axing

Doohan said on Friday that discussions about his Alpine seat and future were happening before last year’s Australian Grand Prix. Now a reserve driver with Haas, his goal is to get back on the grid.   SportMotorsportFormula 1Jack Doohan lost his childhood dream of an F1 seat. He opens about the ‘brutal’ axingBy Hannah Kennelly March 6, 2026 — 3.15pmSaveLog in, register or subscribe to save articles for later.Save articles for laterAdd articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.Got itNormal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text sizeAdvertisementThe scene looked a bit like Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, The Last Supper.There was Jack Doohan, sitting at a table outside Alpine’s hospitality unit in the Formula 1 paddock at Albert Park, surrounded by photographers, boom mics and Netflix cameras, two days before his 2025 Australian Grand Prix debut.Haas reserve driver Jack Doohan smiles for supporters at the Melbourne Walk. Credit: Eddie Jim The media pack knew they were capturing something pretty juicy – Doohan was sandwiched between his rumoured replacement, Franco Colapinto, and manager Flavio Briatore, who would later become Alpine’s team principal.The rest is history. Months later, Doohan – the son of five-time motorcycle GP champion Mick Doohan – was dropped by Alpine after only six races, replacing him with Colapinto, an Argentinian driver with significant commercial interest.Doohan said on Friday that discussions around his Alpine seat and future were happening before last year’s Australian Grand Prix, and the experience was more brutal than he could have imagined.“I think, as you know, decisions were obviously made, not when they were announced,” Doohan said carefully.“It was a lot earlier in the year and it was, to be honest, before I was even jumping into the car for the first time, before Melbourne. That’s when it’s a little more brutal, when honestly, there’s extreme outside measures that take control of the aspect, and then it’s tried to be portrayed in a way that isn’t like that.“That’s where it’s a bit twisted and a bit dark in a way.”AdvertisementDoohan has recently returned to F1, as Haas’ new reserve driver, but his axing from Alpine was a key part of the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive. During the episode, Doohan admitted he’d received death threats via email and described the atmosphere around his final race in Miami as “pretty heavy”.Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto.Credit: Artwork: Michael HowardDid the Australian have any nerves about the episode airing?“I’ve dealt with quite a lot the last 12 months of things outside my control… I had an idea of what was going to be portrayed. Still, it wasn’t a bad airing. You know, honestly, nothing’s ever the full story or to the full extent.”There’s understandably still a lot Doohan can’t say about his time with Alpine, but the Australian admits the cut-throat nature of the sport and subsequent axing was more brutal than expected.LoadingThe Australian was parachuted into a race seat with just a week’s notice for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Alpine in 2024, but the stopwatch began to tick after Colapinto was signed as a reserve driver in early January.Alpine’s management had several chances to make Doohan’s future crystal-clear, but danced around the subject, fuelling speculation the Aussie’s time was limited.While Doohan’s on track performance in the early half of the 2025 season wasn’t spectacular, it’s worth noting his replacement, Colapinto, did not outshine him either. Both drivers finished the season on the same amount of points: zero.Doohan said he understood the performance aspect of the decision behind the axing, but said it was “deeper than that”.For now, Doohan is focused on his new reserve role with Haas, a team he says has welcomed him and “supported him very well”. While he admits there isn’t a clear road map for his career, his goal is to get back on the grid – an objective his dad is hugely supportive of.When asked what his biggest lesson from last year was, Doohan pauses, sits back in his chair and runs his hands through his hair.Former Alpine driver Jack Doohan and Flavio Briatore before the qualifying session for the Miami Grand Prix in May 2025.Credit: AP“It’s difficult to pinpoint one thing,” he said. “I learned a lot on how to handle the adversity and those difficult moments, [how] to work through it.”Would he ever consider writing a memoir or autobiography one day to tell the full story of what happened with Alpine?Loading“Who knows,” he laughed. “Maybe in the future, it could have been either the best thing that could have happened to me… to enable me to explore different opportunities, or it’ll still be as shit as it was, but there’s options to take from it.“I definitely... won’t be dwelling on it or capturing it, but it could be cool... to create a little bit more insight on it when the time is right.”News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.SaveLog in, register or subscribe to save articles for later.License this articleFormula 1Australian Grand PrixHannah Kennelly is an award-winning sports reporter and For