‘I’m ready’: Inside Aussie young gun’s F1 gamble... and when son of legend could join grid

The journey to Formula 1 comprises hundreds of decisions.

The closer you get to the top, the bigger and riskier those decisions become and the less time there is to make up for mistakes.

An inspired call can make a career. A misstep could break it.

Every practice, qualifying session and race from the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

Australian rising star Jack Doohan hopes the decision he made late last year to commit to the reserve role at the beleaguered Alpine F1 team is the one that will land him a coveted spot on the Formula 1 grid.

At 21 years old with three race-winning seasons spanning Formula 3 and Formula 2, he’s the right age and has the right experience to be knocking on the door to F1.

Getting that door to open, however, is a tricky task. That was never truer than in 2024, when for the first time in F1 history the exact same grid of drivers lined up in the exact same order as they had done at the end of the previous season.

With the door remaining unmoved by his knockings — and with a third year in Formula 2 carrying too much reputational risk for limited possible reward — Doohan had a decision to make.

“I had plenty of options in various different series this year, all in top motorsport categories,” he tells Fox Sports. “Hypercar in World Endurance Championship, IndyCar, Super Formula and even in middle of last year Formula E — everything was there.

“Unfortunately there was no change for anyone in Formula 1 last year.

“It was the decision that Alpine wanted. They wanted me just completely, solely and only focused on Formula 1 and solely focused on getting a Formula 1 seat.”

Having spent most of his short life racing, Doohan was being asked to put every competitive instinct in his body and sit on the sidelines.

The decision was made.

DOOHAN’S ROLL OF THE DICE

In exchange for taking himself out of the cockpit, Doohan is getting an extremely detailed look inside a Formula 1 team and a sample of life as a full-time driver.

He’s already had more than a year embedded inside Alpine — dating back to his promotion to reserve driver in late 2022 after Oscar Piastri quit the team — but this is the first season during which he’s had no other racing commitments to occupy his mind.

His sole focus is to absorb everything there is to know about the Alpine team.

“I’m watching it from a third-person point of view,” he says, comparing it to his experiences in previous years.

“It’s great just to be able to evolve my understanding of the strategy, the warm-up, the structure of the session and also just my understanding of each individual department.

“I’m getting to know the role of each person better and how they’re working and how they’re making the Formula 1 car work.

“I could sort of see that after doing all 22 races last year and the last six of 2022 and also having driven three different generations of Alpine F1 cars — 2021, 2022, 2023; [now] I’ve got quite the understanding to be able to relate to and also see how things are going on.”

Despite having no racing program, Doohan’s race weekends are almost as busy as those of any full-time driver, with a similar workload.

“There are commitments with all of the engineering, comms, marketing and media briefings across the weekend,” he explains. “And then post-session [debriefings] and the drivers meeting with all the drivers on Friday afternoon.”

And then of course there’s the fun stuff.

“What’s great obviously for me that Alpine provide is I get a further 5000 kilometres of F1 testing in the 2022 generation of car this year, which is more than any other reserve driver and quite high mileage,” he says.

“I’m going to circuits like Zandvoort, Imola, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Monza, Silverstone, Barcelona, Portimão — some very, very cool places that also complement other circuits that I’ve already driven at.

“I’m getting quite the experience over the Formula 1 calendar. Then there are the FP1 sessions I’ll have later in the year.”

All combined, Doohan’s program will almost certainly make him the most experienced young driver on the market for 2025, a unique selling proposition for any prospective team, Alpine included.

RISK AND REWARD

It all adds up to significant value for Doohan, but there’s also risk in his decision to sit out the season.

Besides lacking competitive seat time, he’s also tied himself to what’s turned out to be the worst team on the grid in 2024 despite its manufacturer status and title-winning history.

Alpine has shown itself to be beset with problems in the year it originally earmarked as the culmination of its now infamous 100-race plan to return to competitiveness.

Rather than contest podiums and victories, it’s anchored to last in the constructors championship and batting away speculation that Renault could sell the race team.

Key staff have departed Enstone since the start of the year, and Alpine is now facing a major rebuild just as it should have been tooling up to make the most of the 2026 regulation changes, work on which will have to start in a matter of months.

The A525 is the slowest car on the grid by a significant margin. Over a single lap it’s been on average 1.737 seconds off the pace and 0.207 seconds slower than the next quickest car, built by the perennially underfunded Sauber.

The team’s issues stem from a decision last season to start this year with a completely new car philosophy in the hope it would help bridge the gap from sixth place in 2023 to the leading five in the new campaign.

Instead the car has arrived overweight, underdeveloped and last.

“We understand the problems,” Doohan says. “We understand the direction we’re going into.

“It’s not like we don’t know why we’re slow. We obviously chose this direction, with a brand-new concept, and to go quicker we need the upgrades to contribute to that.

“I’m providing my help where I can and when I can, and then I’ll be definitely even more helpful when we get to Europe.”

When Doohan gets back to Europe is when his hard work will really start — and when a valuable opportunity will present itself.

Integral to the reserve role — at least for any reserve driver a team rates highly — is factory support from the simulator room.

For any race that’s within three hours of the Enstone factory by air, Doohan will be left behind to work concurrently in the simulator during Friday practice. He’ll then fly overnight to the circuit in time for Saturday to embed himself once again in the race team.

“I’ll be on the simulator all Friday doing race support,” he explains. “Being in sim is a great opportunity for us to try different variations and explore our set-up options, more than just the planned ones that are made to do throughout the session.

“It gives us the chance to feed back whether this is a good direction to go for in the next session or to try maybe a set-up that they’re not so sure about, that could be 50-50, to confirm that.

“We have a very good role and we’re a very big help, and it’ll also just great for me.”

In a moment of crisis for the team, it gives Doohan an important and potentially crucial role in Alpine getting the most out of its opportunities race to race.

Though it’s currently slowest, points are extremely hard to come by for all bottom five teams. Two rival constructors are similarly without points, and RB, the best scoring team among the backmarkers, has accrued just seven.

Nailing a weekend — perfecting set-up and execution — will be pivotal in any points opportunity, and Doohan has a chance to contribute to those chances.

READY FOR THE FUTURE

Doohan has come a long way in his four years on the international stage following the F1 tour. He built his reputation as a title contender and relentless competitor in the junior series, but off the track he’s become well known for his open personality and easygoing nature.

A familiar face in the F1 paddock, he’s even now a regular on television coverage as an occasional pundit.

But speaking to him, it’s clear he’s getting limited comfort from his secure position.

There’s only one thing on his mind: 2025 and the chance to join the grid.

“I don’t even want to have the mentality of [potentially] not getting a seat,” he says.

“I’m trying to stay sharp. The 5000 kilometres [of testing] will be great. I’m keeping up my very high level of training and just staying ready so I am ready to jump in the car.

“It’s tough being at the track and not racing; however, I know it’s for the best, and it’s just important to keep the common goal in sight, why we’re doing what we’re doing.

“I’m making sure that I’m on top of my game at all times.”

His path to an F1 seat is narrow and uncertain.

There are certainly signs that the driver market will be markedly less conservative than it was this time last year. Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move has at least guaranteed a shuffling of seats.

Oliver Bearman’s sensational Saudi Arabian debut also appears to have enlivened team managers to young guns as viable contenders for 2025.

That helps Doohan in one respect by shining a light on his achievements and experience, but it could also hurt him, with several more drivers now in the mix for seats but with few incumbents obviously bound for the exit door.

On the other hand, perversely in his favour is that Alpine must be the least attractive destination in the paddock after its horror start to the year.

Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon — both out of contract this year — would surely be considering seeking refuge higher up the grid, while few drivers would likely be looking to switch to Enstone, potentially leaving an opening for what could be a third Australian in the sport.

For now Doohan sees sticking with Alpine as his best bet, and he insists he isn’t considering entering himself into the wider market.

“I’m in a great position within the team,” he says. “They’re giving me the mileage, they want me to be ready for Formula 1, and I’m ready.

“We’re doing everything combined that we can to make sure that I can get on the grid for next year.”

Having made his big decision last year, Doohan’s immediate course is now set. His task this year is to maximise his chances, but beyond that his fate is to a certain extent out of his hands.

“I just want to make sure, no matter what, that I’ve done everything in my power to put myself in the best possible position in each single department away from the track and on the track — mental, physical, working with the team, engineering, on track, testing, FP1s — making sure I’ve just done everything to perfection and all execution is as close to perfection as I can get,” he says.

“Then I either have to accept the outcome or enjoy the outcome.”

It won’t be long until we learn whether those decisions have made or broken his F1 chance.