Doohan says Alpine demotion made him 'much stronger' as F1 return stays on his radar

Jack Doohan says being dropped by Alpine mid-season has reshaped his mindset entirely, leaving the 23-year-old Australian unconcerned by external opinion and convinced he would perform better in Formula 1 now than during his difficult seven-race stint last year.

Doohan was speaking ahead of his debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours, where he shared the #24 Nielsen Racing ORECA with Ed Pearson and David Heinemeier Hansson. The car had qualified third in the LMP2 class — Doohan setting the time himself — before a troubled race left the trio 18th in class.

Reflecting on the 12 to 14 months since his Alpine demotion, Doohan described the period as one that demanded an unusually broad perspective just to get through. “I’m very comfortable and not really worried at all about external opinions or expectations, and it’s providing to be a huge gain on my side,” he said.

When asked directly whether the bruising F1 experience had made him stronger, Doohan was emphatic. “Yeah, much, much, much, much stronger. It has pros and cons, obviously, of everything. There’s also some cons to that, outside of racing, like in personal life, for sure. But from a racing perspective, in a mental way, it’s been a huge, huge gain, which I’m grateful for.”

He acknowledged the risk of the experience leaving him emotionally flat, adding: “I just need to try to manage that off the track and make sure that I’m not being some flat, monotone person completely, and just being myself.”

Doohan still has a presence in the F1 paddock as a Haas reserve driver, and he made clear that a return to the grid remains a genuine ambition rather than a distant hope. “I really enjoy the difficult environments, and I feel like now I would thrive more,” he said. “The more variability there is to have gains on your opponents, I see it as an opportunity, a window to improve and be in front.”

His Alpine tenure ended without a points finish across seven grands prix, but Doohan’s composure at Le Mans — qualifying the LMP2 car third before mechanical misfortune intervened — offered a reminder that his underlying pace has not diminished. Whether a second F1 opportunity materialises will depend on factors largely outside his control, but the driver himself appears to have made his peace with that reality.