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Albert Park

Motorsport

F1 Albert Park Sunday 2025: Jack Doohan’s home debut ended early at the expense of difficult conditions under wets

by Sports Benches

Unlucky there from Alpine’s No.7 Jack Doohan whose first home race unfortunately ended that early when racing under wet weather in a Formula 1 car for the first time proves to be so difficult & it’s a shame he’s unable to get himself back out on track.

Don’t forget he isn’t the only one to experience this as seen with Carlos Sainz and fellow rookie Isack Hadjar.

All eyes on Pierre now to bring home a good finish for the other Alpine A525 now as there’s always China next weekend to build on his good one-lap pace across practice & qualifying – and surely his first race points will come his way next time.

Update: Gasly finished 11th with some good moments at some stage in 3rd-4th but then another rain hail forced a reshuffle and almost got slipped up after he lost some track position – at least he’s home safe and sound.

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Formula 1 Saturday at Albert Park: Jack Doohan into Q2 for the first time but will start 14th with Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly starting 9th ahead of race day tomorrow

by Sports Benches

Glad to hear some more excellent Jack Doohan moments across today’s Qualifying day where he was 10th fastest at the first part out of three that puts him through into the second stage for the first time.

That’s a huge step up off the back of his promising start of the home weekend based on the two practice sessions yesterday & also from his unexpected Abu Dhabi debut back in December 2024.

Yes, things didn’t go his way with little time that gone against him unfortunately – could’ve been a close 11th or even 10th again + a first-ever Top 10 shootout.

But still, starting 14th out of the 20 cars ain’t bad as it’s all about being at his personal best and do understand he wants to save it for the best of last.

This is where he wants to be while upping the ante for Top 7-10 points so he can keep his car clean from start to finish even under wet conditions (another strength of Alpine late last year with team-mate Pierre starting 9th) ahead of race day tomorrow.

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Formula 1: Not a bad Friday from Jack Doohan with both Top 15 lap times across both practice sessions for Alpine-Renault at Albert Park

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t a bad day for a start from Alpine’s own No.7 after all across Fast Friday who was 13th in the first session and 14th in the 2nd session and he’s all ahead of his team-mate Pierre Gasly.

Goes to show Jack is damn quick with raw pace & can manage his tires well especially when he’s through the straights with that super soft tires as if he’s on the drag strip. That’s what we know best about him so far & also important to bring that kind of skillset for the best possible start of his Formula 1 career.

Although he had an issue or two when it comes to the cornering where the first session had to be up on hold for a bit (red flag) after he made a mess with the gravel while he may have scratched the floor of his A525 at Turn 10 & asked the team to check on his way back in the garage.

Thankfully he’s okay & that weakness isn’t new anyway as they just want to make sure he’s good to go on Qualifying day tomorrow so his target again is to make up respectable Top 10-12 lap times & then it’s all on Jack to score points come Sunday.

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Final Thoughts ahead of Jack Doohan’s next practice session tomorrow at his home track Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix with Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches

In about 12-14 hours from now, Jack will be back behind the No.7 Alpine-Renault A525 to build on the work he picked up from pre-season testing as his target is to clock respectable Top 10-12 lap times.

That’s all we want to hear.

A Good Friday session can mean a good Saturday’s worth of qualifying and also race day Sunday. 

Sure he’s learnt a lot by now other than the basic 1st step of keeping his car clean which is what Pierre has also done all of last season while able to fight the top teams at the same time and Pierre has been setting up those standards every now & then.

Let’s get behind him first & foremost 100% with confidence & let him handle that pressure under traffic also 100%.

Now the tables are on Jack who is more than ready to split the race field with raw pace + his own 7 iron & go into a comfortable situation where no one else is able to ignore him – I mean in a good way – so he can stay with a team who is currently giving him a red hot go at Alpine.

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Formula 1: Jack Doohan’s Albert Park memories ahead of his season-campaign opener on home soil later this week at Alpine

by Sports Benches

Jack Doohan’s next task at Albert Park awaits especially on his home front from racing in F2s back in 2023 to being reserve driver last year along with a special ride in one of those old Enstone-built Benetton cars from the 90s alongside his legendary dad’s bike that also won him a few world championships there.

What can Jack walk away this time then as a first-time Formula 1 driver? Let’s hope it can turn out well with race points based on his pre-season testing feedback from two weeks ago in Bahrain.

Although the chances of winning are of course a long shot since Alpine is currently not on the same pace as McLaren-Mercedes and Red Bull but at least Top 7-10 finishes should be enough to keep him beyond the season opener plus the four other race clause survival.

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Formula 1, an unexpected early mechanical DNF from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen paves a Ferrari 1-2 finish with Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr. now a first time winner at Albert Park

by Sports Benches

We didn’t see that coming but we now have a new Australian Grand Prix winner for 2024 and his name is Carlos Sainz Jr who drives for Scuderia Ferrari off the back of these unexpected early retirements from reigning champion and last year’s winner Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda RBPT) as well as Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes whose team-mate George Russell also suffered a late race crash). He too had a great race for the majority unchallenged with team-mate Charles Leclerc rounding off a 1-2 Ferrari finish since the 2022 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Looks like it will be Ferrari v Red Bull for the championship now with Sainz Jr (-11 points) and Leclerc (-4 points) not far behind Verstappen (currently on 51 with back-to-back wins) in the drivers’ standings. Plus, fellow Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has still yet to win this year despite back-to-back 2nd places in the hope of going one better that would help him keep his ride for another couple of years after he just finished 5th (-5 points).

For the Aussies, We also hoped to at least see one on the podium but Oscar Piastri didn’t do bad though just outside the Top 3 places in 4th behind his McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Lando Norris, while Daniel Ricciardo finished not far from the Top 10 in 12th despite being a lap down for Visa CashApp RB-Honda RBPT since he was in a midfield race machine.

Also, shoutout to the two Haas-Ferrari cars just rounding off the Top 10 points in Nico Hulkenberg (9th) and Kevin Magnussen (10th). So does Ricciardo’s team-mate Yuki Tusnoda from Japan after he collected a few points in 8th just behind the Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll (7th) & Fernando Alonso (6th). And although things are still going slow at the moment over at Jack Doohan’s Alpine-Renault squad with Esteban Ocon finishing last on track (16th), but Pierre Gasly did benefit from these early race retirements on what has been an okay 13th placed finish. It remains to be seen if Alpine’s form will turn things around sooner rather than later as a mid-season driver change remains unlikely for now but Doohan hopes his time will come most likely next year depending on the team’s commitment to the sport & if Ocon and/or Gasly leaves for a better race team like Mercedes and Red Bull. F1 will now go from Albert Park in Melbourne to Suzuka in Japan who will now host early rather than later during the season as the next race (Round 4 of 22) will take place after Easter on the weekend of Sunday 7th April 2024.

If you wish to follow all other races after watching this annual Australian race since it’s free-to-air protected, Fox Sports/Kayo will be the only place here to watch live & on-demand with next day race highlights available for free thanks to Kayo Freebies.

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All you need to know ahead of next weekend’s 2024 Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 Event at Albert Park in Melbourne

by Sports Benches

The 2024 Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 Round is not far away beginning next Friday at the streets of Albert Park in Melbourne. It will be the third race of a long 24 event calendar with 3 x reigning champion Max Verstappen who is outstanding so far with back-to-back pole and race wins in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for Red Bull-Honda RBPT. So this is the man to beat as he’s also the defending winner here, having done so for the first time last year on what has been a caution filled race that led into a late finish around 5.30pm local time. Don’t forget we could see another talented youngster again in Britain’s Oliver Bearman who filled in well for the ill Carlos Sainz last time round (Saudi Arabia) for Ferrari where he finished 7th. What’s even better that we will have two Aussie drivers on the grid again for the first time since 2013 where high-flying youngster Oscar Piastri and the experienced Daniel Ricciardo will be flying the flag for McLaren-Mercedes and Visa CashApp RB-Honda RBPT respectively. There hasn’t been a home winner since Alan Jones back in 1980 during his Championship-winning season for Williams as it’s unlikely we will see Piastri end that long-running drought at this stage but you never know.

But wait there’s more, Alpine’s Test/Reverse driver Jack Doohan and his legendary motorcycle grand prix dad Mick will also be stopping by at the same time where they will do a bit of their own fun event together with Jack driving a Benetton B200 and Mick riding a Honda RCV213 production bike around the track. While it’s a bummer that Jack won’t be given a chance for next Friday’s free practice sessions since he chose not to race anything this year after two good seasons in Formula 2, we will get to see more of him throughout this year – mainly during the European leg races. Considering Alpine’s disastrous start of 2024, hope Jack can be given a chance and get to be on race days if things don’t work out by the middle of the year. But again, it’s a difficult sport to get into considering you would need lots of financial support in order to get your foot into the door out of a 20-car competition. So Alpine should correct the mistake they did with Piastri two years ago regarding the contract dispute/next season’s driver line-up and have Doohan replacing Esteban Ocon if he goes to Mercedes or even Pierre Gasly earlier than expected who is sitting last right now in the drivers’ standings behind American Logan Sargeant from Williams.

And lastly, the broadcast details on where you can tune in if you’re unable to watch the race in-person. Fox Sports with its streaming platform Kayo has the exclusive rights to every round of the season from practice, qualifying, some sprint races and the all-important race days Live and on-demand. They will simulcast the Sky Sports feed all along and if you want to keep up to date with Formula 1 as the season goes on, look out for free-to-view highlights clips sometime on a Monday after each Grand Prix. Also, as part of the current anti-siphoning rule required to have the annual Aus GP event on free-to-air by the Government, Network 10 will be back onboard for this event for the 20th year and the 22nd year covering this sport if you count 2020-21 being COVID related years when the sport was unable to race here at the time. They will once again have their studio coverage as well as their own commentary since 10 had to share the rights with Fox back in 2015 where they will air all three days of the Australian GP event live. This is the second year out of five under the current updated Formula 1 broadcast deal here where 10 & Fox Sports/Kayo are not going anywhere right now with the next rights cycle coming up from 2028.

All in all, it’s going to be an amazing event with the Supercars, Formula 2 and 3 also on show amongst other categories in the lead up towards the main 56-lap race next Sunday afternoon at 3pm AEDT.

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