Doohan, from bad to worse: also out of the Japanese Super Formula

Doohan won’t even race in Super Formula Everything to Nothing in nine months. A year ago Jack Doohan was experiencing the happiest moment of his career: having just been promoted to Formula 1, he couldn’t wait to participate in the pre-season tests of the 2025 World Championship and start the championship for the first time as a starter. Alpine, however, rejected him at the sixth GP, after some errors which however had to be taken into account in the growth of a rookie. Now the Australian is not only no longer in Formula 1, but has also been excluded from the Alpine program. The negative news, however, did not end there, as Doohan also failed to enter the Japanese Super Formula. After a negative post-season test performed in Suzuka, the Kondo Racing team preferred to focus on the more experienced Ukyo Sasahara as Luke Browning’s partner. Suzuka is certainly not Doohan’s track. Here he played a large part of his reputation in Alpine and in Formula 1 by tackling turn-1 with the DRS open after trying a similar maneuver on the simulator. In December, with the Japanese team, he had three accidents in three days at the Degner 2 curve: nevertheless, it seemed that Doohan could keep his place, but a last-minute change of heart led Kondo Racing to part ways with the son of the legendary Mick. It is possible that the divorce is explained by the team’s need to have financial support from Doohan, something that Sasahara could guarantee having a giant like Toyota behind him (which supplies the team with the engine). Certainly, though, Doohan’s mistakes didn’t help. And now for the class of 2003 the serious risk is that of spending 2026 totally away from engines.