‘Fate was already decided’, Jack Doohan’s brutal Alpine admission

Jack Doohan has returned to the Formula 1 paddock in a reserve driver role with Haas. But speaking to Australian media on Friday, including F1 Chronicle, Doohan was up front about his tumultuous spell last season with Alpine.

Doohan was sensationally dropped after the Miami Grand Prix in 2025, leaving him on the sidelines for the remainder of the season. The Australian signed as a reserve for Haas in February on the eve of the 2026 season and is attempting to have a positive outlook on what opportunities can arise in the future, and less about the pains of 2025.

That didn’t mean last year wasn’t painful for Doohan, and he alluded that the lack of a fair opportunity was what hurt the most.

“I had a lot of time to digest that already, so it’s not really at the forefront. I’m just tackling what’s in front of me,” Doohan said to F1 Chronicle.

” I learnt a lot on how to handle the adversity in those difficult moments and to work through it, when fate is already decided before it’s known and how to work through that.”

The hardest part for Australians and Doohan himself is that rumours began flying before the season had even started in Melbourne that he was due for the sack. Now, more than ever, there seems to be truth to those claims that decisions based on the drivers were made far in advance of Miami.

That devastating nature isn’t lost on Doohan. To compound his problems, there was a public feud both from within the team and from fans externally to have him sacked in favour of a different driver. That overwhelming feeling of both positive and negative noise was a lot for a driver to deal with in his first year.

“Decisions were made, not when they were announced; it was a lot, lot earlier in the year. Maybe it was before I even jumped in the car, “Doohan said.

“So that’s when it’s a little bit more brutal, when obviously there is extreme outside measures, and then it’s portrayed in a way that isn’t such.

“To be honest, it (the support) was on a scale a lot more positive than negative. There was a lot from the same group of negatives that were spawning in numbers. The rest was quite positive, which I’m grateful for.”

Doohan was supposed to partake in some Super Formula running, but that was also restricted on the basis of previous contracts that prevented the Aussie from joining Haas or a potential team in Japan. Looking forward, Jack sees his focus on Formula 1 and reaching the pinnacle of motorsport once again. It’s a tough journey to pick yourself back up and try again in a new environment. For Doohan, extra running with Haas and strong work away from the track will hopefully be the start of the steps for him to realise his dream once more.

“For whatever reason, it didn’t end up working out. I was also physically not able to end up signing anyway within deadlines, and there was reasons around,” he said.

“Maybe in the future that could’ve been the best thing that ever to happen to me to enable me to explore different opportunities.”

Want more F1Chronicle.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for the best F1 news and analysis on the internet.

Written by

Oliver van Bronswijk

Oliver van Bronswijk is a Formula 1, Cricket and AFL journalist who has a large array of industry experience in Melbourne, Australia. He has delivered Formula 1 coverage both trackside and from afar, depicting the key issues in the world's fastest sport. Oliver also works as a 3AW Content Producer focused on AFL coverage working in the inner sanctum.

More articles by Oliver van Bronswijk →