Alpine’s decision is “a tough one to take”, claims Doohan

On the back of his demotion from Alpine, Jack Doohan claims that the French-British team’s decision to axe him after just six races of the 2025 F1 season will be a “tough one to take”.

Following last Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix, Alpine have decided to drop Jack Doohan for the next five Formula 1 races, with Franco Colapinto returning to the grid as his replacement.

The Enstone-based outfit made the decision to axe Doohan after just six races of the 2025 F1 season. The Australian has not scored any points so far in 2025, having recorded his best result with a 13th-place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Alpine confirmed last August that Doohan would compete in 2025, replacing Esteban Ocon. The Australian became the first Alpine Academy driver to be promoted to Formula One.

As Ocon departed Alpine ahead of the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which meant that Doohan made his F1 debut last year at the Yas Marina Circuit. He qualified twentieth on debut, before finishing fifteenth in the race.

Partnering Pierre Gasly for 2025, his debut full-time campaign in Formula One has endured a tough start. While he showed flashes of great speed, he suffered several crashes.

He qualified fourteenth at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, before crashing on the opening lap in wet conditions. He received a 10-second time penalty in the Chine F1 Sprint for causing a collision with Gabriel Bortoleto before earning another ten-second penalty for having forced Isack Hadjar off the track in the main race.

In the second free practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix, he failed to close his drag reduction system into the flat-out First Turn, causing him to spin into the barriers at 160 mph. He then went on to qualify nineteenth and finished fifteenth at Suzuka.

The Bahrain Grand Prix saw Doohan qualifying eleventh, but he only finished fourteenth on Sunday, and he also received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits

He claimed seventeenth in both qualifying and the race in Saudi Arabia after a strategic gamble under safety car conditions. After finishing sixteenth in the Miami Grand Prix sprint, he qualified fourteenth prior to retiring in a first-lap collision with Liam Lawson last Sunday.

Reflecting on Alpine’s decision, Doohan claims that the French-British team’s decision to axe him after just six races of the 2025 F1 season will be a “tough one to take”.

“I am very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional Formula One driver and I will forever be grateful to the team for helping me achieve this dream.

The Australian continued: “Obviously, this latest chapter is a tough one for me to take because, as a professional driver, naturally I want to be racing. That said, I appreciate the team’s trust and commitment.

“We have long-term goals as a team to achieve and I will continue to give my maximum efforts in any way I can to help achieve those. For now, I will keep my head down, keep working hard, watch with interest the next five races and keep chasing my own personal goals.”

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