“Wasn’t too bad”: Jack Doohan content with Chinese GP result despite going pointless

Formula 1 rookie driver Jack Doohan has opened up about his performance during the Chinese Grand Prix that took place this past weekend. Doohan, driving for the Alpine team in his third start in F1, ended his race in Shanghai with a P16 finish after the driver was awarded a ten-second penalty and walked away having scored no points.

After the race, the Australian driver talked about how it was a difficult race that required effort on his part, but he was proud of the fact that he was able to keep the Racing Bull car of Isack Hadjar, a fellow rookie, behind for the last laps of the race. Doohan also discussed wanting to review his mistake, one which saw the 22-year-old driver run Hadjar wide during the race, which caused him to recieve a penalty so that he can avoid it in the future. He said (via F1):

“Tough race, elbows out and, in the end, 14th on track from where we were wasn’t too bad. We kept that [Racing Bulls] car behind for 20 odd laps, a car that’s been much quicker than us all weekend, a strong Q3 running car so I think we have to be proud of that.

“I will have to revisit the penalty because we don’t want to be giving away spots for nothing. Although P14, P16 there are no points but still [it] would have been nice. So, just going to have to revisit it and keep our heads down for Japan.”

Although his penalty put him in P16, the disqualification of his teammate Pierre Gasly, alongside Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, put Jack Doohan in P13, making it his highest finish so far.

The next race in the Formula 1 calendar is the Japanese Grand Prix that will take place at the Suzuka Circuit over the weekend from April 4-6.

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Jack Doohan has accumulated four penalty points on his super licence

Jack Doohan and Isack Hadjar during the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on March 22, 2025 - Source: Getty

Apart from his P13 result from the race in Shanghai, Jack Doohan also was only able to score a P20 finish in the Sprint race this past weekend, which means the driver goes into the Japan weekend having scored no points so far this season. He has, however, accumulated four penalty points on his super licence, which has come about due to his performance in the sprint and the Grand Prix races.

In the Sprint event that took place on Saturday, Doohan was given a 10-second penalty and two penalty points after he was found responsible for causing a collision with fellow rookie driver, Gabriel Bortoleto, who drives for the Sauber team. His remaining two penalty points came after his incident with Hadjar during the main event, which also saw him recieve another 10-second punishment.

If Jack Doohan recieves eight more points over the course of the season, or if any driver accumulates 12 penalty points in total over a 12-month period, they will be subjected to a one-race ban.