Doohan showed well in the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend before a mid-race Safety Car compromised his strategy and saw him fall through the order in the latter laps.
The Alpine pilot looked to be on course for a maiden points finish were it not for the interruption.
That performance followed a similarly positive Japanese Grand Prix, where he recovered well from a hefty practice crash on Friday.
“There was a lot of strengths to the weekend in general,” Doohan said of his Bahrain effort.
“You look at the end results, they weren’t what we were expecting or hoping or what they were shaping up to be, but there’s obviously the parts and moments throughout that give good confidence.”
Such has been Doohan’s form that speculation suggesting he’ll be ousted from the Alpine seat following this weekend’s event has eased.
Heading into the year, it was claimed the Australian would only be given the opening five races before being replaced by newly arrived reserve driver Franco Colapinto.
But Doohan has done well to stake his case and the team has been pleased with his pace and attitude.
While less happy with his handful of incidents (including the expensive Suzuka crash) it also understands it’s part of the learning curve the 22-year-old is on.
Doohan is yet to out-qualifying teammate Pierre Gasly in their five events together with Doohan’s best Saturday result his 11th place in Bahrain last weekend.
Improving in Qualifying is an area of opportunity, one that has a direct correlation with his chances in the race, but it’s a balancing act with car set-up.
“I’m constantly still learning on exactly how I want to set up my quali car; that’ll also translate into my race car,” Doohan said.
“Ifs, buts, and maybes, but if the [Bahrain] race ran as it was going to, without a Safety Car, we would have come out with about a 16-second margin to Yuki [Tsunoda] and Carlos [Sainz] and the cars behind.
“Then I wouldn’t have to push like this with four guys on softs behind me, it would have been a little bit nicer.
“Plus a little bit of an energy management issue that didn’t help when I’m pushing like hell,” he added.
“So I think if it can get me a few places further up on the grid, I will stick with that, rather than hoping to fight those back in the race.”
In addition to nailing set-up, a crucial element in qualifying is tyre preparation.
The way the sensitive Pirelli rubber is brought up to temperature can prove a significant differentiator.
In Bahrain, that was a moving target as conditions cooled as the session wore on,
Doohan pointed to a change in approach ahead of his final Q2 run that proved a misstep.
“It was something that I was doing on my own in the first part of quali, which worked really well,” he said.
“Then Pierre was doing it as well for the start of Q2 and I thought, you know, as it was getting cooler and more rubber was going down, and it was working so well, I went for another step to try to continue what I was doing, but a little bit more.
“I just ate up much too much of the tyre, and by Turn 8 I was already on my back legs.”
The remedy, in Doohan’s eyes, is a simple one.
“Not trying to experiment too much at the end of Q2, which is most important on warm up, and just sticking to what’s worked, and sticking to the basics, which got me though and, really, around P5/P6 for the whole quali session,” he reasoned.
“Not trying to reinvent the wheel for the remainder. That ended up maybe putting me out of Q3, which I shouldn’t have been.
Doohan remains one of four drivers yet to score points in 2025, alongside Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson, and Fernando Alonso.
Alpine, meanwhile, is tied with Sauber on six points at the foot of the constructors’ standings.
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