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Jack Doohan believes a series of unfortunate events robbed him of his maiden points finish at the 2025 Bahrain GP. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, after the race, the Alpine F1 Team rookie expressed frustration over how the safety car, strategic calls, and a late penalty combined to derail what had been a promising performance.
Doohan had been running on course for his first top-10 result when a poorly timed safety car forced him onto a set of hard tires, leaving him vulnerable to rivals on fresher, softer compounds in the closing laps. To compound his misfortune, the Australian was handed a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits late in the race, ultimately dropping him to 14th at the chequered flag.
Reflecting on the outcome, Jack Doohan admitted the final stint was particularly difficult, with his rear tires degrading rapidly and offering no performance as faster cars swarmed past. Despite the setback, the 22-year-old remained focused on learning from the experience, stressing the importance of a thorough race debrief to help him string together a clean, competitive weekend next time out.
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Asked by Sportskeeda about his long, eventful race, Jack Doohan said:
“Yeah, a bit, 20 laps too long I reckon. It was looking quite good on the soft and the medium and I think we boxed at the right time for the hard. And a bit of bad luck on the safety car, the six cars behind us on new soft and I pushed quite a lot to try to keep them behind. Once one went through no rear tire there and the rest just followed. Then we picked up a time penalty at the end which knocked us back a couple places. So yeah very unfortunate end to the stint.”
Asked about his missed opportunity to score his maiden points finish of 2025, the Jack Doohan said:
“Yeah, exactly. Similar to yesterday, it was so good until it wasn’t. So we just need to analyse and get this weekend to come together, where there's some strong points. Just very unfortunate with the hard and also for sure there's some things that I can look into to ensure that I can piece it altogether.”
Jack Doohan admits struggling to master the setup on his car for qualifying and the race
Jack Doohan believes that Alpine made genuine progress with their car in Bahrain, echoing teammate Pierre Gasly’s post-qualifying assessment. However, the Australian rookie admitted he is still learning how to extract the most from his setup across an entire race weekend.
Jack Doohan acknowledged the team had made adjustments that improved their overall competitiveness in Bahrain. While he agreed with Gasly’s optimism, he pointed out that his car setup leaned too heavily towards qualifying performance, which ultimately hurt him during the race.
His preference for a more aggressive front-end setup worked well over one lap, but it compromised tire life and overall balance in race conditions. Doohan hopes to build on the gains made in Bahrain and refine his approach ahead of the next round in Saudi Arabia. With the warmer conditions expected to be similar, the 22-year-old is optimistic that a better understanding of the setup window could help him achieve a more complete performance next time out.
Asked by Sportskeeda if he shared a similar opinion to Gasly that the car had improved in Bahrain after adjustments had been made to it, Jack Doohan said:
“Yeah, I think we had a really good, strong quali car. But I think maybe I just need to have a think into how I'm setting up my quali car to ensure that I also have a nice and pleasant on the tyres race car.”
Asked how different his approach to setups was compared to Gasly, he said:
“I'd say there's not significant, but there's just small steps in quite a number of areas, and I like the car a lot more on the nose for sure. And I think that's really hurt me today, especially at the end of the stint.”
Asked if the car being good in Bahrain was condition-based, Jack Doohan replied:
“You know I really hope so. We’re going into another hot race next weekend and we just look to try to build from this and continue where we've left off. Maybe not in my ultimate finishing position today but in our pace.”
Alpine scored six valuable points at the Bahrain GP thanks to Pierre Gasly’s seventh-place finish. However, the team missed out on a potential double points result, which could have elevated them in the constructors’ standings. As it stands, they remain tied at the bottom with Sauber, both teams struggling to break away from the rear of the field.
Jack Doohan, who narrowly missed out on his maiden points finish after a late-race penalty, remains determined to bounce back. With the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix offering similar track temperatures and conditions to Bahrain, the rookie will be aiming to build on the momentum and finally get on the scoreboard.
Despite it being his debut season, Doohan has shown steady improvement over the first four races, inching closer to Gasly’s performance levels. A clean weekend in Saudi Arabia could finally reward the Australian with his first top-ten result in Formula 1.
