EXCLUSIVE: Doohan on signing for Haas, his Alpine stint and what’s next

Jack Doohan has experienced all sorts of emotions over the last year – going from the high of an F1 promotion with Alpine to the low of losing his race seat after a handful of races, and then leaving the team altogether. However, 2026 marks a fresh start for the Australian, who has since joined Haas in a reserve role and is now focused on writing another, more positive chapter in the top echelon…

A rollercoaster 12 months

This time last year, Doohan was preparing to make his long-held F1 dream a reality – becoming a full-time racer with Alpine for the 2025 season after debuting at the 2024 finale in Abu Dhabi.

However, it was a dream that soon turned into a nightmare, with persistent speculation over the youngster’s future – which started in the winter – coming to a head at the Miami Grand Prix, where he made what turned out to be his seventh and final outing for the squad.

A journey 22 years in the making, one that took him from Australia to Europe and beyond, was over in a flash – his time as an F1 racer lasting just under 150 days.

Doohan spent the rest of the season watching on as 2024 Williams super-sub Franco Colapinto raced in his place, with any talk of a potential return soon quashed, before edging towards the Alpine exit door and officially departing in January of 2026.

Then, a month later, some good news finally came out of the Doohan camp, with confirmation arriving that he had joined Haas in a reserve capacity – crucially keeping him in the F1 paddock, and in the frame for a future return.

It completed a wild 12 months for the F2 and F3 race winner, who was all smiles when he joined F1.com for a chat via video call at the end of 2026 pre-season testing.

“Things are good!” Doohan beams, speaking from a break in Miami, where his initial F1 adventure came to a halt. “It’s been great first feelings with the team, and very enjoyable to have a fresh start – meeting plenty of new faces, new people, a new team, a new car. Everyone’s been so welcoming, which has been very refreshing.

“It was a little bit later than I would have liked to have had everything sorted, but just in time [for the new season], and enough time to make sure that I was able to get out to the first Bahrain pre-season test, and get things under way.”

Processing the experience

Doohan’s move to Haas, and what’s next in his career, is the focus of our half-hour conversation, but it would be remiss not to ask how he reflects on that seven-round run at Alpine, who had supported him on his rise through the single-seater ranks before the relationship turned sour.

“It was a tough period,” Doohan states, with Season 8 of Drive to Survive shining a light on the situation, which included death threats – amid calls for Colapinto to be promoted – while he tried to perform, bounce back from a couple of heavy accidents, and win over demanding Alpine Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore.

“Without being too depressive, it was sort of a moment that you look forward to your whole life, of being an F1 driver, and unfortunately, I would say from October 2024 to maybe even October 2025, it was probably one of the toughest 12 months of my young life.

“At the end of 2024 there was already some chat going on, which puts a little bit of an eerie feeling and strangeness in the air, and that followed through the winter into 2025, which didn’t help the environment.

“Time, unfortunately… I should have had, and thought I was going to have, plenty of time in the car, but it was very, very clear that Miami was going to be my final race, so my fate was sort of decided. I was always on borrowed time, I guess, and it’s difficult to maximise things when you know what’s to come.

“To be honest, it was a big shame, but I’m trying to put that behind me, to start fresh, and it would obviously be a dream to be able to have the opportunity [to race in F1] again, in an environment that is much more… I think it should always be ruthless, but more welcoming and on an even playing field.”

Doohan has, at least, taken plenty of valuable lessons from the experience.

“Certainly… I don’t think it can get… well, maybe, maybe not, but I don’t think, at least in normal circumstances, that the situation, environment, atmosphere, could probably get much worse than it was,” he comments.

“I’m grateful to have experienced that now, to have been through that process, to have learned an awful lot of how to cope with that going forward, and how to ensure that I make the most of those situations if I ever am faced with them, and with that environment, again.”

A new home at Haas

With that stint discussed and parked, we get back to the topic of Doohan’s new home at Haas – the 23-year-old currently focused on supporting regular drivers Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman as much as possible, rather than pondering if or when another race opportunity might arise.

“It’s very difficult to say,” says Doohan, when asked if he sees a pathway back to the grid with Haas. “I wish the best for the two boys who are in, that they can move up and go on to strong things, which would obviously pave a pathway for myself, but I have no expectation.

“I want to help the team as best I can, and when I have an opportunity to show what I can do, to do so – the interaction with the team, the engineers, the mechanics, and also how we connect on a personal level, which is important because we spend more time together than with anyone else.

“If that all develops well and the opportunity arises, then I’ll take it with both hands, but until then, to be honest, I’ll be focusing on anything that I can do in my power to help the boys. It’s super important that they maximise the job under these new regulations to give the team the best opportunity to move forward.

“It’s a bit selfish to be thinking of myself right now. I’m putting that to the side, and if I’m able to contribute in a way that helps the team going forward, then I’m sure that won’t position me in a bad place either.”

Getting back in the cockpit

That said, Doohan is itching to get back behind the wheel of an F1 car at the earliest opportunity, with Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) running “definitely on the radar over the next few months to make sure that I stay sharp”.

He is also working on a racing programme to complement his Haas reserve duties, having been limited to those seven Grand Prix appearances over the last two years, and having last competed full-time in 2023 when he finished third in the F2 championship.

“For ideal scenarios, we’re about like six months too late!” Doohan says with a wry smile when quizzed on what might be possible. “It’s very difficult to maximise options being in mid-February, but first and foremost, the main thing is just for me to race. I haven’t raced in a while, so I need to drive and stay race fit – whatever it is.

“Potentially something in ELMS (the European Le Mans Series), and maybe also for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in an endurance car, in an LMP2 – these would be great laps and miles. I’d get to stay race fit with a slightly different approach, but it’s just important that I’m behind the wheel.

“We had to make sure that everything was all clear on the Alpine side of things before we were able to fully, finally proceed and confirm with Haas, which, like I said, was a little bit on the later side, pushed things out a little bit, and held some potential race plans back. Hopefully I can confirm something soon.”

However that develops, Doohan is clearly feeling significantly better heading into 2026 compared to the way he ended 2025, with plenty of reasons to be excited about the future, rather than dwelling on the past.

“I’m sure that it’ll start to slowly die down with the changeover,” he says of the noise, which has increased again after the new Drive to Survive season landed on Netflix. “I would obviously really appreciate it, too, considering I’m now at a new home. There’s no reason for there to be anything that was happening to continue, at least the way I see it.

“I’m excited to just get back into enjoying what I love, which is racing cars, and ultimately in F1. It’s something that I enjoy, and that is my life and more, so to be able to get back into a place where I can feel at home with it, feel safe and welcome, would be ideal.”