During a monobrand race in Lonato a few years ago, Jack's father remarked, “Karting is much safer than motorcycling. Today, my son dreams of F1, but maybe in a few years, he’ll choose basketball, which is also much less expensive than karting!” In the end, Jack did make his dad spend some money and continued down the path that is most natural for a karting driver, which, when you have a famous surname, leads you to aim for the big leagues.
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The opportunity Alpine is now officially giving the 'young but not so young' Jack (considering that drivers nowadays enter Formula racing at 15, Jack will be 22 in his F1 debut year) is a double-edged sword: a team with uncertain prospects, but a dream that cannot be passed up, especially since the Australian's path to F1 isn’t one that leaves you in awe. He started karting in Australia in 2011 at age 8, winning his first national title at the beginning of 2012. After more victories in various national races between 2013 and 2016, he moved to Europe, as drivers aiming for a professional FIA career typically do to climb the junior categories. Before bidding farewell to karting, he raced with Ricky Flynn's team (just like his fellow Australian Piastri), competing in CIK FIA and WSK races without securing any titles or memorable results, although he was often in contention for victory. His best karting result was third place in the 2017 European Junior Championship. As a member of the Red Bull Junior Team (which he joined in 2017), he then competed in the British, German, and Italian Formula 4 Championships (2018), the Asian F3 Championship (five wins) in 2019, and the FIA Formula 3 Championship. His two seasons in the series were completely different: the worst season ever in 2020 and a season with four wins and second place in the 2021 Championship. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons—during which he left Red Bull and joined the Alpine Academy—he placed sixth and third in the Formula 2 Championship, respectively, collecting several notable results (including two consecutive wins at SPA) but lacking the consistency that could have won him the Championship.
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The atmosphere and car that he will (likely) find at the Enstone-based team—which has certainly seen better days—belong to a team in a rebuilding phase, with a medium-to-long-term project under the supervision of none other than Flavio Briatore, who explicitly stated that “it doesn’t matter who the second driver will be in 2025 because we won’t have a car worthy of winning before '27/'28, when, yes, the driver will matter.” Curiously, the 2025 F1 grid will (according to Marko) feature two big names from the early '90s MotoGP, but don’t be fooled: the Lawson likely to drive a Red Bull family car next year is a New Zealander and has nothing to do with the American Eddie Lawson, who shared the grid with Jack’s father, Mick Doohan.
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The opportunity Alpine is now officially giving the 'young but not so young' Jack (considering that drivers nowadays enter Formula racing at 15, Jack will be 22 in his F1 debut year) is a double-edged sword: a team with uncertain prospects, but a dream that cannot be passed up, especially since the Australian's path to F1 isn’t one that leaves you in awe. He started karting in Australia in 2011 at age 8, winning his first national title at the beginning of 2012. After more victories in various national races between 2013 and 2016, he moved to Europe, as drivers aiming for a professional FIA career typically do to climb the junior categories. Before bidding farewell to karting, he raced with Ricky Flynn's team (just like his fellow Australian Piastri), competing in CIK FIA and WSK races without securing any titles or memorable results, although he was often in contention for victory. His best karting result was third place in the 2017 European Junior Championship. As a member of the Red Bull Junior Team (which he joined in 2017), he then competed in the British, German, and Italian Formula 4 Championships (2018), the Asian F3 Championship (five wins) in 2019, and the FIA Formula 3 Championship. His two seasons in the series were completely different: the worst season ever in 2020 and a season with four wins and second place in the 2021 Championship. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons—during which he left Red Bull and joined the Alpine Academy—he placed sixth and third in the Formula 2 Championship, respectively, collecting several notable results (including two consecutive wins at SPA) but lacking the consistency that could have won him the Championship.
The atmosphere and car that he will (likely) find at the Enstone-based team—which has certainly seen better days—belong to a team in a rebuilding phase, with a medium-to-long-term project under the supervision of none other than Flavio Briatore, who explicitly stated that “it doesn’t matter who the second driver will be in 2025 because we won’t have a car worthy of winning before '27/'28, when, yes, the driver will matter.” Curiously, the 2025 F1 grid will (according to Marko) feature two big names from the early '90s MotoGP, but don’t be fooled: the Lawson likely to drive a Red Bull family car next year is a New Zealander and has nothing to do with the American Eddie Lawson, who shared the grid with Jack’s father, Mick Doohan.
