An early debut
Jack Doohan made his official Formula 1 debut at the Abu Dhabi GP.
The Australian was set to make his full-time debut for Alpine next season, but a late season driver switch saw Doohan taking the seat of Esteban Ocon prematurely.
The 21-year-old finished his first Formula 1 race in 15th, finishing ahead of Magnussen. He crossed the line just over 9s second behind Zhou Guanyu, banking a lot of knowledge in the process.
Alpine achieved their goals in both championships as they beat Haas to P6, with Gasly beating Hülkenberg to P10 in the Drivers’ Championship.
“It was great that we ended up getting P6 in the Constructors’ and Pierre P10 in the Drivers’ standings and a great result from his side.”
Unexpectedly calm
Over a year has passed since the last time the Australian raced. After finishing last year’s Formula 2 season, he switched into a full-time reserve driver role for Alpine, doing plenty of TPC running, and previously took part in practice sessions.
It is to be expected that a driver’s first race back, let alone his first in Formula 1 machinery, would be nerve-wracking.
Doohan expressed that his nerves were far less than he had expected ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP. Instead, it was a feeling of relief and getting the adrenaline rush of returning to a race car.
He thanked the key members at Alpine for their support, too.
“I haven’t obviously raced in over a year so it was great to get that sensation back.
“I think nerves, they were less than I was expecting. Everything the team did just made it so seamless to be honest.
“Super thankful to the whole Alpine Academy, the TPC, the test team, Luca de Meo, Flavio Briatore, Oli Oakes for this opportunity and for all they did to prepare me for this race.”
The learning curve of Formula 1
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix held a large amount of learning for the 21-year-old.
Having never participated in a Formula 1 race previously, the son of Mick Doohan gained the knowledge and experience he feels necessary for a strong start in Australia early next year.
A steep learning curve for Jack Doohan was on the hard tyres in his second stint in the Abu Dhabi GP.
He mentioned post-race that navigating the hard tyres, their pace, and their wear was something he gained valuable experience on.
“A lot of knowledge and so much learning, and I’m super grateful for every lap, for the experience, and super grateful to the team.
“Learning to be done on the hard tyre, happy to finish on the same pace as others on the same strategy towards the end of the race.
“So just looking forward to taking this all into next season.”
Pushing more on the tyres
Regarding what he will take from the stint on the C3s in the Abu Dhabi GP, Doohan says going harder on the tyre will be key.
“I think just learning how much to push on the first sort of 20 laps on that hard tyre in the second stint.
“Obviously I came past Bottas who was struggling quite a lot on the hard, and I didn’t really know how much to push.
“I didn’t want to overcook it on my first race and lose out to K-Mag [Magnussen who was on softs at the end going for fastest lap], I didn’t really know where he was.
“So yeah, I think just can push more and use the tyre a little bit more.
“But nevertheless I’m grateful that I finished the race and took so much learning from it.”
Sore thumbs
Doohan also spoke on aspects of racing in Formula 1 that were harder than he had predicted, the key aspect being the pressure on his thumbs.
He recalled how by the end of the race, he felt as though his thumbs were not in the best shape.
“My thumbs were harder; they weren’t really working too well at the end of the race to be honest.
“So that was weird, something I wasn’t expecting.”
Gasly the mentor
Pairing the Australian at Alpine next season is veteran Pierre Gasly. Doohan sees the 28-year-old as a mentore and thanked the help the Frenchman has offered him.
Gasly stayed back at the track late Friday night with Doohan to ensure he felt as prepared as possible for Qualifying the following day.
The 21-year-old has great faith that Gasly and himself will be a great duo for next season.
Although there is a lot of pressure riding on the Australian for next season, he doesn’t feel it due to the support of his team.
“I think he [Pierre Gasly] assisted me where he could. We stayed quite late on Friday night together, to be honest an hour after curfew, looking over all the out-lap procedures together, looking at what others are doing, how it compares to us.
“But to be honest, we focused on ourselves quite a lot. I just focused on my crew, he focused on his crew and we tried to take what we could from each other.
“He’s obviously a class driver, a great result for him, running third for most of that first stint.
“So I look forward to learning a lot from him and being able to be a great pairing for next season.”
Chaos at Turn 1
When asked about the chaos off of the start, Doohan made it clear his only goal was to stay out of trouble, and remain damage free, which he achieved.
Reflecting on his start, the Australian wishes he could have taken more advantage of everything that went on, but he was overall thankful to have finished his first race in formula 1.
“Ideally, I would have liked to maybe have taken advantage of the chaos a little bit more.
“But my goal obviously was to stay out of trouble, and to just stay clean, not have any damage, not get a puncture.
“We did so, and took the first medium tyre quite a long way.
“I think it was a good experience before Australia.”
Pressure to perform in 2025
Jack Doohan is fully aware of the pressure he will be under heading into 2025, such is the cutthroat nature of elite level sport.
Nonetheless, he is not feeling under pressure heading into his first full season in F1 next year, highlighting the positives of the weekend.
After the first runs in Q1, he was only 0.115s slower than Gasly before a mess on the preparation lap ruined his final attempt.
“No, obviously there’s pressure. I want to be performing next year — I don’t feel pressure though.
“I think our one-night pace was really strong yesterday. Within half a tenth to a tenth of a Pierre, we got just super unlucky in the last run of Q1 with just poor traffic management on the out-lap and difficult positioning.
“Couldn’t ask for much more in a difficult circumstance, so I think that’s a strong point.
“And then learning on my first full race, so a lot to take forward into next year and hopefully hit the ground running.”
