Within the past ten months, Jack Doohan has gone from being a Formula 2 race winner in contention for a seat in F1 with Alpine, to now struggling for points with performances somewhat out of his control.
After experiencing a “difficult” start to his 2023 F2 campaign, where he entered as a title favourite, Doohan told Feeder Series about his struggles with Virtuosi while still remaining confident that F1 is on the cards in the near future.
By Tyler Foster
At the age of 20, Doohan is currently in his second full-time season of FIA Formula 2. On the face of it, his performances so far this year illustrate signs of regression. The Australian sits in a disappointing 12th in the driver’s standings after the opening six rounds, with five less points than this time last year.
His recent poor run of form came to a head at Monaco, where after qualifying an impressive fourth, Doohan crashed out in spectacular fashion due to rear suspension damage caused by an earlier meeting with the barrier.
This low point saw the Alpine youngster express his raw emotions in the Monte-Carlo pitlane, in a somewhat unique display from a driver who is usually jovial and well-tempered.
“It was very difficult in Monaco,” Doohan said. “I was very frustrated with myself because, everything’s unfortunately been out of my control for quite a while, and I’ve just shunted, and that’s in your control. That was on me. That was difficult to take.”
Virtuosi’s struggles
Doohan’s issues have not been solely personal: the Invicta Virtuosi Racing squad has faced major struggles in the first half of this year’s campaign. The team sit at a lowly ninth in the F2 standings, with their Australian driver having scored 40 of their points. Doohan explained just how the team’s problems have affected his mentality while driving throughout 2023.
“Because I haven’t really been able to maximise any performance, I wasn’t really in a position to take a little bit of risk and it not to pay off because of something outside of my control. I had to just stick to the basics.”
Virtuosi were comparatively off the pace in pre-season testing, even with the addition of Doohan’s new teammate, Amaury Cordeel. Between the season opener at Bahrain and the fourth round in Baku, the only highlight was the Aussie’s podium in a chaotic Jeddah feature. Since the May mid-season test, Doohan has seen some positive change that lends hope to what was fast becoming an underwhelming campaign.
His speed in Monaco and Barcelona was promising, with Doohan saying himself that he had the “potential” to take pole on the streets of the principality. Later that weekend, he would go on to say, “taking the positives forward from the [Monaco] weekend was that I finally had something underneath me that I could deliver with and really be back to where I know I could be.”
Championship comeback
While Doohan is a massive 70 points behind our current championship leader, Prema’s Frederik Vesti, there are still seven rounds left to fight back. Also, this season’s grid has seen extreme parity, with 14 different podium-sitters already. There are just 17 points that separate Doohan in 12th and Dennis Hauger in 4th.
As a result, there is still a lot to play for, and one strong weekend could see fortunes drastically change in the standings. Following Doohan’s double-points finish in Spain, he is relishing the opportunity to reset his campaign and begin his title charge.
“This is actually the start of my championship. The others had a few rounds as a head start. Mine starts here. 60 points or whatever I am [behind the championship leader], it doesn’t really matter we’ve got so long to go.
“I proved at the end of the 2021 Championship that over halfway [through] I was over 60 points behind Dennis [Hauger] in Formula 3. I got very close to winning that. It’s far from over. We have a very good record last year at these circuits and I really look forward to getting that underway.
“For me, it’s now just taking it lap-by-lap, session-by-session and round-by-round. To be honest, I don’t think that I have anything to prove or show. Luckily, I’ve done that, so I just want to be back to where I should be; building on some consistency.
“I look back at the start of this year and how up and down everything’s been. It frustrates me to know what could have been if things went right, we could have built something very nice.”
With the month of July offering four race weekends – Spielberg, Silverstone, Hungary and Spa – Doohan will need to make the most of this period in order to salvage his season, particularly as these are the more traditional circuits that had brought him success last year.
If this is indeed a change of fortunes for Doohan, it may see a return of qualifying form akin to that of 2022.
Reviewing Doohan’s 2022 campaign
In his first full-time Formula 2 race weekend, a then 19-year-old Doohan put his Virtuosi on pole at Bahrain. Despite this achievement, he was only able to score a single point in the corresponding feature race as a result of damage to his front wing caused in a collision exiting the pits. This string of events would characterise most of Doohan’s 2022 F2 campaign.
Qualifying was a major strength, with an average grid position of 5.6 in the feature races. In comparison, he is currently averaging a weaker starting spot of 9.8 throughout the six rounds prior to Austria. His race craft could be called into question, often failing to fully capitalise on his raw speed due to silly mistakes. His third and final pole of the 2022 season at Monza ended in a first lap retirement that resulted from a poor getaway.
In spite of this, Doohan was able to finish the 2022 F2 championship in sixth place, ahead of more experienced drivers such as Jehan Daruvala, Jüri Vips and Marcus Armstrong. An impressive season saw the Virtuosi driver score 128 out of the team’s 134 overall points. With six podiums in total, Doohan’s highlight came at Spa where he took his first F2 feature victory in style, at an almost-perfect timing for his career.
The only way is Alpine
Back in 2017, a 14-year-old Doohan joined the Red Bull Junior Team. However, the Australian would eventually switch Milton Keynes for Enstone, making a surprise move to the Alpine Academy – joining them from the start of the 2022 season.
In July of last year, Doohan revealed on the Feeder Series podcast, that while F1 is his current goal, he understands that not everyone makes it that far.
“Firstly, it wasn’t the reason that I joined the [Alpine] program, as my Plan A will continue until failed. Especially in Formula 2, Formula 3, a lot of things have to gel, have to go right for that ultimate goal to happen. On some occasions, we’ve seen plenty of drivers and very talented ones not make it to the pinnacle of motorsport.”
“Look at the opportunities that I’ve already been given to date [at Alpine], not only just the Formula 1 test but the availability to be learning off of all the engineers and the test team of the F1 team and also on a wider branch of the LMP project as well. So, it’s not just Formula 1 and a sole focus on that.”
It hasn’t been the easiest for sure, but I’ve got a great group of people behind me
Jack Doohan
Ironically, it was only a few months after these statements where Doohan found himself within the running for a Formula 1 seat with his new employers. Following the fiasco involving Oscar Piastri, Fernando Alonso and a seat at Alpine, Doohan was heavily rumoured as one of the favourites to replace the veteran Spaniard. In reality, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi was clear that they were always favouring someone with more experience.
After Pierre Gasly was announced as the future teammate for Esteban Ocon, Alpine’s plan for Doohan involved taking the pressure off him and integrating him slowly. On 16th February 2023, the Australian was promoted to the role of Alpine F1 Reserve Driver. This coincided with the start of the new F2 season, where Doohan entered as a title favourite. However, despite his recent struggles, Alpine’s support of their junior hasn’t wavered.
“It’s been difficult, it hasn’t been the easiest for sure,” Doohan said, “but I’ve got a great group of people behind me and I have a great team with Virtuosi and also Formula 1 support with Alpine. They’re all very understanding and knew exactly what was going on. That was never under threat… I know I haven’t forgotten how to drive, and outside of that things were still strong.
“I have to take any positives where I can and potentially it might have found where I have some slight weaknesses that I can work on. I’m hoping that going forward, I can now be even more on top of my game and better than I was.
“For sure, the targets haven’t changed. For them, they understand what’s gone on. They understand that it’s been out of my control.”
Header photo credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd
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