Written by Caitlyn Gordon, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
Jack Doohan ended his 2023 Formula 2 season in perfect fashion, dominating on his way to victory at Abu Dhabi. The F2 season has worked in Doohan’s favour towards the second stint of the year, with the 21-year-old securing his third win of the year.
A tough start to the year wounded the Australian slightly at the beginning of the season, with “fundamental issues” arising from his Virtuosi Racing car.
However, luck finally waved in favour of Doohan in Hungary, as the Australian secured his first victory of the season in dominant fashion.
The Alpine junior driver would work his way up from the bottom of the standings, with two further Feature Race wins at Spa and Abu Dhabi respectively.
Doohan’s impressive consistency during the second part of the season saw him finish third overall in the standings, after yet another spectacular performance in Abu Dhabi, converting his second pole of the season into victory.
The surprise exit of Fernando Alonso from the French outfit let the door swing open for Oscar Piastri, who ended up joining McLaren instead. This meant that Doohan was now the lead contender for the Alpine seat in 2022, however, with the unexpected response from Piastri, Alpine had to act fast, and scooped Pierre Gasly from Alpha Tauri for 2023. This left the Australian sitting as a reserve driver for another year.
However, despite missing out on F1, his impressive comeback into the F2 season brought a lot of attention to his name. Back in September, there were rumours of Doohan joining Alpine’s hypercar campaign in WEC for 2024, but it was quickly shot down for Mick Schumacher being the main contender — and winner — of the seat.
As the season wrapped up, Doohan confirmed he wouldn’t be heading back to F2 for a third try at the championship, as there “wasn’t much to gain”.
This left the burning question: Where would the Australian head for 2024?
In an interview with Speedcafe, Doohan confirmed what he will be doing next season:
“At the moment, I don’t have anything set to race,” he revealed.
Doohan mentioned the different series offering him a seat for 2024, however, he is fully focused on his role with Alpine next season.
“Had quite a lot of options and in all sub formulas, and inside formulas other than Formula 1.
“So not that the opportunities were shy — Super Formula, IndyCar, Hypercar, whatever it was — I was very fortunate to have those options.”
For 2024, Doohan will be taking part in a more wide-ranging programme for Alpine.
“However, at this point in time, I feel it’s crucial that I focus only on Formula 1, which is heavily provided by Alpine that I’m able to stay within a car.”
“If I wasn’t going to have this extensive programme, then for sure I would need seat time, and that would be venturing out somewhere else,” Doohan noted.
As disappointing as this may be for fans of Doohan, there is a speculation that if the Alpine junior can’t find somewhere to race full-time for next season, then he would take part in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans with the French outfit.