{"id":903339,"date":"2026-09-24T05:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T05:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903339\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T05:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T05:02:12","slug":"f1-news-2026-jack-doohan-handed-lifeline-for-haas-2027-seat-axed-from-alpine-esteban-ocon-has-no-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903339\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News 2026: Jack Doohan handed lifeline for Haas 2027 seat, axed from Alpine, Esteban Ocon has no seat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A sensational return to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/motorsport\/formula-1\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1<\/a> could be just ahead for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/person\/jack-doohan-25os\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jack Doohan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Following Ocon\u2019s announcement that he is set to part ways with Haas at the end of 2026, Doohan has placed himself in prime position to argue his case to partner Ollie Bearman in 2027.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/40321b6047022f07b2044d471dd1944bb93a653444982eeba35605d79a5549b6.jpeg\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">Jack Doohan was spotted in Baku with Haas. \u00a0Ryan Pierse<\/p>\n<p>Doohan, 23, has waited patiently for a path back into F1, but he\u2019ll have tough competition for the seat. <\/p>\n<p>The Aussie had an impressive outing at Haas\u2019 testing of previous cars in Jerez but Ferrari-backed Rafa Camara is poised as the favourite for the second seat, the 21-year-old rookie currently sitting in second in the F2 standings.<\/p>\n<p>Camara is looked well upon for his ties to Brazilian sponsors, which could provide Haas with much-needed financial support.<\/p>\n<p>Other considerations include Toyota-backed driver Ryo Hirakawa, his technical partner alliance helping in the bid for the 2027 seat.<\/p>\n<p>Doohan had a brief stint in the F1 main game in 2025 with Alpine, but was sensationally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/motorsport\/news-2025-alpine-make-call-jack-doohan-replaced-franco-colapinto-next-five-races-20250507-p5lxf3.html\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">axed for Argentinian Franco Colapinto by manager Flavio Briatore<\/a> after seven races with the team. <\/p>\n<p>In 2026, Doohan joined Haas as their reserve driver after severing ties completely with Alpine. <\/p>\n<p>He also raced in European Le Mans Series, taking part of the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. <\/p>\n<p>Haas have been struggling to keep their season alive, leaving them to decide to explore other driver options as Ocon was consistently outperformed by his teammate Bearman.<\/p>\n<p>Ocon only scored three of Haas\u2019 21 points this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the moment, I\u2019m definitely a free agent for next year,\u201d Ocon admitted to media in Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are things in discussion that are out of my control. There are certain topics that are out of my control. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alpine driver Jack Doohan of Australia and Flavio Briatore stand in the pit area before the qualifying session for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race at the International Autodrome, Saturday, May 3, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Shawn Thew\/Pool Photo via AP)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ac7ce083381b1cbab9b36e46fbc7d12c54168402.jpeg\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">Alpine only kept the Aussie for the first six races of 2025. \u00a0AP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I will keep pushing until the end of the year and see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Team principal Ayao Komatsu was coy when asked about the team\u2019s final decision for their second seat, saying the major interest in their seat has awarded them plenty of options to choose from. <\/p>\n<p>Although they haven\u2019t officially given their notice to Ocon for his axing, they also won\u2019t announce their decision for the seat before the end of the weekend. <\/p>\n<p>There are minimal seats left available in F1, Isack Hadjar\u2019s announcement of his contract extension now locks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/red-bull-racing-2695\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Red Bull<\/a> away for 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Only the two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/rb-6gkr\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Racing Bulls<\/a> seats are left, which are imagined to go to current drivers Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/person\/fernando-alonso-2xi\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fernando Alonso<\/a>\u2019s seat at Aston Martin.<\/p>\n<p>Formula 1 will race this Saturday at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/azerbaijan-grand-prix-259s\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Baku<\/a> due to the country\u2019s national day of mourning for military personnel in the second Nagorno-Karabakh War\u00a0clashing with a Sunday race.<\/p>\n<p>This means all track running have been shifted a day forward, with practice on Thursday night (AEST) and qualifying on Friday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sensational return to Formula 1 could be just ahead for Jack Doohan. Following Ocon\u2019s announcement that he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-903339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903339","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=903339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}