Jack Doohan makes cryptic Alpine social media post as F1 2026 lifeline emerges
Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan in the paddock at the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix
Jack Doohan has seemingly bid farewell to Alpine in a cryptic post on social media.
It comes after PlanetF1.com revealed earlier this month that the Australian is in line to become Haas’s new reserve driver for the F1 2026 season.
Jack Doohan appears to bid Alpine farewell ahead of Haas F1 2206 reserve role
After making his F1 debut at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Doohan contested the first six races of F1 2025 in Alpine colours.
However, the 22-year-old was replaced by Franco Colapinto ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May having failed to score a point.
The mid-season swap effectively saw Doohan revert to his former role as reserve driver, with Doohan continuing to attend races with Alpine and assist the team with simulator work.
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PlanetF1.com revealed following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that Doohan had emerged as a contender to become Haas’s reserve driver for the F1 2026 campaign.
It comes as Doohan evaluates a return to competition in the Japan-based Super Formula series next season.
With Doohan’s move to Super Formula set to come with support from Toyota, the Japanese manufacturer’s ties to Haas has opened the door to a reserve role with the F1 team.
Toyota, which withdrew from F1 at the end of 2009, returned to F1 activities in October 2024 by becoming technical partner to Haas.
The team announced earlier this month that the relationship is to be expanded for F1 2026 with Haas set to compete as TGR (Toyota Gazoo Racing) Haas F1 Team next season.
Doohan is expected to combine his Super Formula activities with the role of Haas F1 reserve, supporting race drivers Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon.
In a post to social media, Doohan has published a series of images of him embracing various members of the Alpine team.
The post also shows Doohan holding his signed Alpine contract after sealing a 2025 race seat as well as other milestones from his stint with the team.
Doohan attached no caption to his post, which was closing in on 100,000 ‘likes’ on Instagram at the time of writing.
The official account of the Australian Grand Prix was among the accounts to comment on Doohan’s post, simply positing emojis of a love heart and the Australian flag.
PlanetF1.com has approached Alpine for comment.
Doohan took his first steps in Super Formula earlier this month, participating in the series post-season test at Suzuka, the home of the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Australian crashed three times at the challenging Degner corners over the course of the test.
As reported at the time by PlanetF1.com, it is thought that extensive experimentation with setup had contributed to Doohan’s trio of near-identical accidents.
Doohan also crashed out at Suzuka during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend in April, hitting the barriers at Turn 1 in the opening minutes of FP2.
PlanetF1.com’s data analysis revealed at the time that Doohan had failed to close his DRS on entry to the high-speed first corner at Suzuka.
Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher
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