Placing Jack Doohan so far down the rankings invites the interpretation that Alpine were right to show him the door so early in the season. But it is fair to argue that half-a-dozen appearances did not consitutute enough of an opportunity to demonstrate what he is capable of, particularly as the writing appeared to be on the wall before his final appearance for the team in Miami.
Although Doohan failed to distinguish himself over the first six rounds of the season, he could justifiably point out that circumstances went against him at times. His first six appearances included a pair of sprint events, meaning the rookie had just a single practice session each time. In China he didn’t even get a soft tyre run in before the first qualifying session due to a technical problem.
When he should have had a full complement of practice sessions he didn’t necessarily getone, due to the team’s priorities. Alpine needlessly gave Ryo Hirakawa his car for the first practice session at Suzuka, a particularly demanding track for newcomers, where Doohan went on to crash in the second session.
Doohan’s first weekend got off to a difficult start as Lewis Hamilton’s spin in qualifying prevented him from being able to complete his last Q2 run. But his difficulties cannot be blamed entirely on minor setbacks like these. Australia was a case in point: He crashed out soon after the start, caught out by the tricky wet conditions.
Jack Doohan
| Best | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| GP start | 11 | 19 |
| GP finish | 13 | 17 |
| Points | 0 | |
He caused incidents in both races in Shanghai as well as spinning out in Q1. He collected more penalty points for track limits breaches in Bahrain, in a grand prix where he could have brought his car home in the points had he not taken too much out of his tyres.
His last-lap pass on Gabriel Bortoleto as they charged towards the finishing line was a tribute to his tenacity at the end of another difficult weekend. But after that fifth round of the season one of Franco Colapinto’s sponsors let slip that their man would make his debut soon.
That proved a precursor to a messy weekend for Doohan in Miami, including a first-lap collision with Liam Lawson. That may have proved his final grand prix start, as Alpine subsequently confirmed the long-expected news Doohan was out following a debut so short it begged the question why they bothered in the first place.
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