Doohan learned of F1 promotion after “mediocre dinner” in Spa
Jack Doohan says he discovered he was being offered an F1 seat with Alpine while he was driving home from an average dinner in Spa.
The Aussie, who joined Alpine’s driver development programme in 2022, says he cannot remember who he even spoke to at Alpine, such was his excitement.
“I was coming back from a quite mediocre dinner in a small little restaurant in Spa on the Monday night, before my testing the following day,” he said.
“I got a call on the way home, back to the hotel, my father [Mick Doohan] was next to me, my performance coach [Sergi Garcia] was behind me, and I got the news that I’ll be racing next year, I’ll be the driver.
“Obviously, I hadn’t signed at that point until a couple of days later, so I was super happy, but it means nothing till pen is put to paper. But that was the first moment that I knew that it was happening.”
When asked who made the call and was on the other end of the line, Doohan added: “I can’t even remember, I was just overjoyed to be having that phone call!”
Jack Doohan, Alpine F1 Team
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
Doohan has had to bide his time while seeing seats dry up across the F1 grid and says he sought the advice from his father as he weighed up his career options.
When asked how much of an influence he has had, Doohan replied: “I think just guiding me on a mental perspective, how I’m conducting myself.
“It was some difficult times knowing that at points my future was obviously outside of my control. And there was points of waiting making sure I was positioning myself in the right way. And he had a very rich experience of that himself. And in what he did, he did it very successfully many times.
“So I was, you know, being a sponge, really just trying to soak in all the information that I could get. But he also knew it was a very important time for me, an important time for me to learn things on my own as well. So he was really doing a perfect mix of making me find my feet myself, but also pitching in what he had to.”
Doohan will continue his role as Alpine’s reserve driver for the remainder of the 2024 season, having previously taken part in Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) events in the A522 Formula 1 car.
He arrived at the Dutch GP after an intensive session running in the team’s simulator and said he would welcome any time behind the wheel in extra FP1 sessions on track.
“The TPC stuff does an exceptional job in preparing me, albeit it’s not a 2024 car, it is a ’22 car, just same regulations,” he said.
“Obviously, small upgrades have been changed, and at this point in time, I’ve completed my mandatory FP1 sessions. So there are no plans at this point in time, but I am welcome if that would come about.
“At this point in time my focus is to fulfil my role as a reserve driver, making sure that I maximise my time in the sim, because every development that I’m doing of bettering the car that we’re currently driving now is bettering a potential ’25 car that I’ll be driving next year.”
