{"id":451628,"date":"2026-02-01T13:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/451628\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T13:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T13:00:09","slug":"ousted-f1-driver-dealt-major-career-blow-after-being-denied-new-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/451628\/","title":{"rendered":"Ousted F1 driver dealt major career blow after being denied new drive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Alpine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/series\/single-seater\/formula-1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1<\/a> driver Jack Doohan has been dealt a major career blow after missing out on a drive in the Japanese <a href=\"https:\/\/superformula.net\/sf3\/?lang=ja\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Super Formula<\/a> championship.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian was ousted from the Enstone-based squad after the Miami Grand Prix last year, after starting the year alongside Pierre Gasly.<\/p>\n<p>Doohan had been the subject of longstanding rumours that he would be replaced by reserve driver Franco Colapinto, who was signed prior to the start of the season.<\/p>\n<p>And the Argentinian took the seat alongside Gasly from Imola onwards, leaving Doohan out in the cold.<\/p>\n<p>Upon the confirmation that he had exited Alpine altogether, Doohan partook in a pre-season test at Suzuka for the Realize Kondo Racing team, which signed another F1 hopeful in the shape of Williams reservist Luke Browning.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jack-Doohan-Alpine-Aus-GP-Qualifying-1024x576.webp.webp\" alt=\"Jack Doohan advanced into Q2 on home soil in the Alpine\" class=\"wp-image-201113\"  \/>Jack Doohan was handed a drive with Alpine last year, but was axed after the Miami Grand Prix in favour of Franco Colapinto<\/p>\n<p>The test was far from fruitful, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/2025\/12\/12\/jack-doohan-suffers-three-crashes-in-three-days-during-debut-super-formula-test\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Doohan suffered three crashes in as many days<\/a>, but it still appeared as if the son of bike racing legend Mick would still be afforded the chance to prove his talent in the category.<\/p>\n<p>But in an 11th hour change of mind, the drive has been handed to Toyota-backed driver and former Formula Renault driver Ukyo Sashara, leaving Doohan without any significant options for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Other drivers competing alongside Browning in the championship this year include fellow British talent Zak O\u2019Sullivan [who was fastest in the Formula E rookie test this week], ex-FE driver Sacha Fenestraz, popular former F1 star Kamui Kobayashi and Kalle Rovanpera, who is making his single-seater debut after his retirement from rallying.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/2026\/01\/27\/flavio-briatores-non-negotiable-alpine-condition-prior-to-f1-return\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Flavio Briatore\u2019s non-negotiable Alpine condition prior to F1 return<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Alpine Formula 1 driver Jack Doohan has been dealt a major career blow after missing out on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[821,64,63,207756,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-451628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-alpine","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-doohan","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}