Jack Doohan
Jack Doohan is an Australian racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One at seven Grands Prix from to.
Born and raised in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Doohan is the son of five-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion Mick Doohan. He began kart racing aged nine in a go-kart gifted to him by Michael Schumacher, winning multiple national titles. Graduating to junior formulae in 2018, Doohan started his career in the F4 British Championship. After finishing runner-up to Joey Alders in the 2019–20 F3 Asian Championship, Doohan moved to FIA Formula 3 in, where he finished runner-up to Dennis Hauger the following season with Trident. Doohan then progressed to FIA Formula 2, achieving several wins in both his and campaigns with Virtuosi, and finishing third in the latter.
A member of the Alpine Academy since 2022—previously a member of the Red Bull Junior Team—Doohan served as a reserve driver for Alpine in and, debuting in Formula One at the latter as a replacement for Esteban Ocon. He was promoted to a full-time seat in, replacing Ocon to partner Pierre Gasly; he was replaced by Franco Colapinto after six rounds without points.
Early life
Doohan was born on 20 January 2003 in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. His father, Mick Doohan, is a former motorcycle road racer who won five consecutive 500cc World Riders' Championship titles from to. His mother, Selina Doohan, helped raise him in the Gold Coast alongside his older sister Allexis. Doohan attended the Southport School throughout his childhood.Junior racing career
Karting (2012–2017)
Doohan started karting competitively in 2012. He was given his first kart from former neighbor and seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher. He won the Australian Karting Championship in 2015 and 2016. Doohan had additional success the next year, finishing third in the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship and sixth in the World Championship.Formula 4 (2018)
Doohan started his single-seater career at the age of fifteen in the F4 British Championship with the TRS Arden Junior Racing Team, alongside fellow Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger. He scored three wins throughout the season, with his first car racing victory coming at Thruxton. The Australian finished fifth in the standings, just one point behind Hauger.That year, Doohan also participated in both the German and Italian Formula 4 championships for Prema Powerteam on a part-time basis. He finished 12th and 20th in the standings respectively, scoring no podiums.
Formula Three (2019–2021)
2019: Debut in Asian Championship and Euroformula
In 2019, Doohan made his first appearance in the F3 Asian Championship with Hitech Grand Prix. Driving for Hitech Grand Prix, the Aussie won five races and ended up second in the championship, 25 points adrift of the experienced Ukyo Sasahara. Doohan's main campaign in 2019 would lie in the Euroformula Open with Double R. The Australian finished on the podium twice, once at Hockenheimring and at the Red Bull Ring. Other than that, his season was average and Doohan ended 11th in the standings, and sixth in the rookies'. The next winter, Doohan returned to the Asian Championship with Pinnacle Motorsport. He once again finished in the runner-up spot, this time behind Joey Alders.2020: Debut campaign in FIA Formula 3
In 2020, Doohan progressed to the FIA Formula 3 Championship, driving for HWA Racelab, partnering Jake Hughes and FDA-member Enzo Fittipaldi. Doohan's high point during the season was seventh in qualifying in Silverstone and topping practice in Spa-Francorchamps, but mainly his campaign was full of incidents and misfortune. Doohan did not score any points during the campaign, and with a best finish of eleventh place, which came at the final race in Mugello, he classified 26th in the drivers' championship. Despite describing the year as having been "very very tough", Doohan maintained that he had been able to learn more from it than he would have from a more successful season. He tested for Trident during post-season testing.2021: Runner-up to Hauger
For the 2021 season, Doohan made the switch to Trident to partner Clément Novalak and David Schumacher. He started his season off strong with a second place in qualifying in Barcelona. He scored his first points with eighth in the second sprint race, and despite a slow start in the feature race, Doohan was able to take second and his first podium. Doohan qualified fourth in France, and drove solid races in the sprint races for eighth and fifth places. He would secure his first F3 victory after overtaking Dennis Hauger with a few laps to go. At the Red Bull Ring, Doohan qualified in seventh and finished in the same position in sprint race 1, but was promoted to third place due to numerous penalties from others ahead of him. He would finish seventh in the second sprint but was hit by Jak Crawford in the feature race, which caused a puncture that unravelled his race. In Budapest, Doohan qualified third. He had an average first sprint race, finishing ninth but fell back to 13th in the second sprint due to mechanical issues. He bettered that result and took third place in the feature race.The following weekend in Spa-Francorchamps was where he achieved his biggest success of the campaign. Doohan took his first pole position on Friday by 0.7 seconds. Doohan ended 12th in the first sprint race, in which he revealed he purposely kept his spot to block off Dennis Hauger behind for reverse pole. Doohan would then control things perfectly and win both the second sprint race and the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps, even having a battle with Victor Martins in the latter race. This made him the first FIA Formula 3 driver to score two victories on the same weekend. He qualified fourth in Zandvoort and ended sixth in the first race. However, a mistake in the second race at Zandvoort cost him a heap of points, but he managed to finish fourth in the feature race. Doohan claimed pole in the final round in Sochi. A mistake by Doohan in the sprint race left him out of the points and Hauger to claim the title. Having defied team orders to let through his teammate Novalak during the race, Doohan won the last race, making sure that Trident were able to win the teams' championship by a measly four points.
Doohan remained in Formula 3 for post-season with newcomers Van Amersfoort Racing.
FIA Formula 2 (2021–2023)
2021: Debut with MP
Doohan joined MP Motorsport for the final two rounds of the 2021 championship, replacing Richard Verschoor. He qualified 16th on his debut in Jeddah, and in the first sprint race, narrowly missed reverse pole by 0.08 seconds. In just his second race, Doohan avoided all chaos for his first points in fifth place. Doohan qualified a brilliant second in the Yas Marina finale. He once again scored points in the second sprint race, finishing eighth. His feature race ended in disappointment, as he spun into the barrier on the opening lap, ending his race. Doohan ended his partial F2 campaign 19th place in the standings with eight points.2022: Maiden victories
On 13 December 2021, it was announced that Doohan would join Virtuosi Racing alongside Marino Sato for the 2022 championship. His start to the season looked promising, as he would score pole position in the season opener at Bahrain. Doohan lacked pace in the sprint race and ended where he started. However, a collision with Théo Pourchaire at the pit exit during the feature race broke his front wing, taking the Australian out of the battle for the lead. He fell down to last but managed to recover to tenth place. Nevertheless, Doohan found positives in his performance, stating that he " as quick as anyone" during the race. Doohan qualified third in Jeddah, but unfortunately was disqualified from qualifying due to a technical infringement. He was involved in a race-ending collision with Logan Sargeant in the sprint race, where Doohan hit the back of Sargeant during a safety car restart, receiving a grid drop. He made another feature race recovery, finishing ninth.Another disastrous round followed at Imola, where he qualified third for the feature race. After 11th in the sprint race, he would clash with Dennis Hauger at the start of the feature race, putting him out of the running. Nevertheless, the Australian soldiered on, taking another pole position in the fourth round in Barcelona. Setting his target towards " some points on the board" for the feature race, Doohan placed sixth in the sprint race after a good start. He would score his first podium of the season on Sunday, ending up second after being overtaken by championship leader Felipe Drugovich in the latter half of the race. Doohan qualified fifth in Monaco, but was promoted to third following penalties. Following finishing seventh in the sprint race, Doohan missed a second podium after he was jumped by Jüri Vips in the pit stops, settling for fourth place. His top 3 qualifying streak ended in Baku, securing only 11th. He had another weekend to forget, his sprint race was affected due to a collision, and a penalty for him in the feature race due to contact with Liam Lawson demoted Doohan to P13.
Doohan qualified seventh for the feature race in Silverstone. In the sprint race, Doohan would take his first victory of the season, fighting his way up to first in the sprint race in wet conditions. Starting on the alternate strategy for the feature race, Doohan continued to score points with ninth. He continued this form by scoring another podium at the Red Bull Ring. However, the podium would be a distant memory in the feature race as like many others, started on the wets on a drying track. This would be the wrong call and Doohan collected multiple penalties on the way to 19th place. Doohan qualified fourth for the Paul Ricard round and ended a hectic sprint race in the same position. He stormed into the lead during the feature race start, but was re-passed by Ayumu Iwasa in the next few corners. Following the pit stops, Doohan would spin trying to pass Pourchaire, and fell to fifth at the flag. In Budapest, the Australian would win once again, dominating the sprint race on Saturday from reverse pole. However, he had a gearbox failure on the opening lap of the feature race and was forced to retire.
After the summer break, Doohan experienced an exceptional round at Spa-Francorchamps, firstly qualifying fourth. He finished second in the sprint race after a good start, even passing Ralph Boschung on the last lap. After jumping to second in the start, Doohan would eventually undercut race leader Felipe Drugovich during the pit stops and claim his first F2 feature race victory. Doohan qualified in second the next week at Zandvoort. and finished outside the points in ninth during the sprint. However, a collision with Richard Verschoor on a safety car restart left him unable to finish. He scored his third pole of the year at Monza. He ended sixth in the sprint race but he had another forgetful feature race, a bad start costing him and a subsequent collision with Jehan Daruvala brought about a premature end to his race once more. Doohan's horrid luck continued into the final round of the year at Yas Marina, where a loose wheel forced him to retire in the feature race, having finished seventh in the sprint race. He ended up sixth in the drivers' standings with 128 points, three wins, three poles, four fastest laps and six total podiums.