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The Australian was promoted into the race seat at Alpine alongside Pierre Gasly in place of Esteban Ocon.
He only learned of his promotion following last Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix when it was agreed that Ocon would leave the organisation early, freeing him to test for Haas in Yas Marina on Tuesday.
That paved the way for Doohan to accelerate his own program, having been announced as Ocon’s replacement for 2025 in August.
“I would have been doing Free Practice 1 this weekend, so now Free Practice 2, Free Practice 3, is new territory for me,” said Doohan.
“But I’m actually quite happy. If there was any nerves for Free Practice 1, there’s less that I’m doing the full race weekend because I now know I have more time to build into it and just take it step by step.
“I’ve really enjoyed this week, mentally as well leading up to it, so I’m excited.”
Doohan’s promotion comes off the back of two years as the squad’s reserve driver.
It also comes with Alpine locked in battle with Haas for sixth in the constructors’ championship, a battle that could be worth in the region of $12 million to the team next season.
Promoting Doohan now is a strong show of faith from the squad’s senior management—a point not lost on the Australian, who has drawn confidence from it.
“It’s quite a cool situation for myself personally to be thrown into,” he said of the constructors’ battle.
“I’m quite excited. It’s an awesome position to experience on debut.
“It’s something you usually maybe would experience 22/23 races into your career, and I get to experience it now.
“My goal is to just try and be as fast as I can in the car and support the team in any possible [way], to ensure that we meet our objective and hopefully finish sixth in the constructors’.”
The Australian is well-prepared.
He’s accumulated thousands of kilometres of running in comparatively contemporary F1 machinery, including 10 days of running this year alone.
He’s demonstrated strong pace alongside Gasly during private testing, with that running in addition to his Friday outings in Canada and Silverstone.
There’s also been hundreds (if not thousands) of hours spent on the simulator at Enstone, and time in the garage and debriefs working with the team.
It’s meant even with the sudden promotion the Aussie has been able to focus on the details, including brushing up on the regulations – including having printed cheat sheets he’s been reviewing.
“I’ve been doing quite a lot of testing, whether that’s a race simulation, a quali simulation, but there is a different aspect of being on a race weekend,” he said when asked by Speedcafe about his preparations.
“While testing, you don’t have 19 other cars on track, and qualifying. There’s no sporting regulations really to follow, so there’s a quite a few things that I’ve been touching up on this week on the sporting regulation side; making sure that I’m making the most and not putting myself in any uncomfortable situations.
“Coming back to the simple stuff like a delayed start, which we saw cause confusion in Brazil – simple things that I may think that I know, but just going back over them.
“Other than that, the team have prepared me quite well. I’m feeling comfortable and feeling ready for the weekend ahead.”
When Doohan takes the start on Sunday evening in Yas Marina, it will come just over a year since his last race.
Then, he scorched to victory in what was his final start in Formula 2 – just as he’d done when signing off from F3 in 2021.
The prospect of being back in the thick of competition on Sunday is the most exciting part of what has been a whirlwind week.
“The racing,” he said when asked what he’s most looking forward to this weekend.
“FP2 is new territory for me, so is FP3, and also the qualifying format of Q1, Q2, Q3 that I’ve only played on the Formula 1 game.
“So, looking forward to that and also just getting back to doing what I love.
“The decision this year to be reserve driver was the right one, and not racing, but at the end of the day, I’m a racer, and that’s why I’m here.
“I’m super happy to be racing.
“For sure, not not racing since last year, I’m not going to be as good as I would have been with racing a whole season, but I don’t think I will be any worse,” he added.
“I’m more than ready. I’ve been racing on my home simulator as well, and I don’t feel as well that I’m out of touch with that.”
