After a hectic day in China, is Doohan already feeling the pressure at home? Alpine ?

For Jack Doohan, as for all the other rookies, with the exception of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, this Chinese meeting in Shanghai is an opportunity to erase the turmoil of the Australian weekend and start off on the right foot. All of them had a complicated first Grand Prix in Melbourne, both in qualifying and in the race, where all suffered various mishaps (accidents, track exits, eliminations in Q1) and where only the Italian was able to finish in the points.

After Saturday's race, which included the Sprint race and qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, some bounced back well, like Isack Hadjar, Oliver Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto, while others fell back a little further. This was the case for Liam Lawson, who finished last in qualifying, but also for Jack Doohan, who had a hell of a time this Saturday in Shanghai. The Australian, who crashed on the first lap of his home race last Sunday, has a lot to prove at the start of the season at Alpine…sadly, for the moment, nothing has been going his way since the start of the season. And the story of his day this Saturday in China is sad to see.

Doohan at fault during the Sprint…

Starting at the back of the grid for the Sprint, like his teammate Pierre Gasly, Jack Doohan was not able to come back like the Frenchman. Quite the opposite: stuck in battles at the back of the pack, the Australian came into contact twice. The first time when Liam Lawson spun his wheel, the second time when he clashed with Gabriel Bortoleto, while trying to overtake his opponent on the last lap, at the hairpin. Judged responsible for the accident, the driver Alpine then collected a 10-second penalty – quite unnecessary since he crossed the finish line in 20th and last place – and his first two penalty points on his points-based license.

📹 At the moment when Doohan tried to overwhelm Gabriel (?) in the last moment, he turned to Gabriel from P16 to P18. pic.twitter.com/4Fv1g41Wki

— Bortoleto Updates 🇧🇷 (@BrtoletoUpdates) March 22, 2025

“A lot of learning for [Sunday's] race. The [Sprint] race didn't go exactly as I hoped, but I made a move on the last lap at Turn 14, and it didn't quite go as planned, reacted Jack Doohan to the microphone of the F1 after the Sprint race, regarding his clash with the Sauber driver. I have to take a look at it and see what happened so that it doesn't happen again and then we can focus on qualifying."

…and not in the running in qualifying

Precisely, these qualifications – organized in the wake of the Sprint race – were the ideal opportunity to redeem himself and put in a good performance in order to wipe out the mistakes of the morning. Unfortunately, once again, if Jack Doohan “illustrated” himself on track with a spin at the exit of turn 9, he did not shine in terms of the stopwatch since he was again eliminated in Q1, with the 18th time. In his defense, theAlpine A524 was seriously lacking pace on a flying lap in Shanghai, as Pierre Gasly was also eliminated in Q1, in 16th place, and Jack Doohan was only a tenth behind his teammate in this session.

"It was a pretty tough day overall and we need to regroup to have a more positive Sunday, recognizes Jack DoohanThis morning we focused on learning the tires, even though the DRS train and the fairly significant degradation of the tires made it difficult to make any comeback during the Sprint. We learned a lot from this session with a view to tomorrow's race. We tried to maximize everything we could in qualifying despite the less than optimal conditions on our out-lap and the tight timing between several cars before our final attempt. We will analyze all of this as a team and immediately focus on what comes next to see how we can try to move up the rankings."

The Colapinto threat becomes clearer

The fact remains that Jack Doohan, unlike most of the rookies on the grid except Liam Lawson, has not yet shown anything very convincing since his first Grand Prix, in Abu Dhabi last year. In a very particular context at Alpine, where the management – ​​notably Flavio Briatore, executive advisor of the A fléché – assume their idea of ​​changing drivers during the season If the Australian does not perform quickly enough, the accumulation of these errors and poor performances could cost him dearly.

Behind the scenes, it's no secret that a certain Franco Colapinto is biding his time: the reserve driver must revel in every mistake made by the regular driver, who has been rumored for months to be in the starting blocks to replace Jack Doohan during the championship. We knew that the first rounds of this 2025 season would be crucial for the Australian's future in F1 with the French team. Unfortunately for him, these first two weekends haven't been working in his favor. A rebound at the Chinese Grand Prix isn't just necessary: ​​it's mandatory!

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