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Formula 1

Thoughts on French engine builder Mecachrome set to continue their activities in Formula 1 without Alpine but only suppling parts to Audi going into the 2026 Season

by Sports Benches May 1, 2025

Mecachrome today has announced their intentions to remain in the Formula 1 business going into next season but with Audi as a parts only supplier despite seeing Alpine set to switch over to customer supplied Mercedes engines.

Good for them first of all like Alpine’s most recent oil and lubricant sponsor until last year in BP and Castrol.

Things ain’t so bad over at Audi HQ through the existing halls of Sauber who is doing everything they can to hit the ground running before their first hit-out in Formula 1 level at the same time (in 2026).

So yeah, that’s another crushing loss to Renault there having ditched their own engine programme many months ago.

Even though Alpine is committed to using Mercedes for at least the next few years, I do hope Mecachrome can show Renault how it’s done as at least there’s a monitoring unit being set up.

If Renault wants to come back someday as long as they invest it wisely with those other 50% modern hybridisation as well as the getting that engine right going at tip-top straight line speeds, it’s either Renault going completely in-house all on its own or Mecachrome taking over 100% instead.

May 1, 2025 0 comment

Top 5 sports items this week 24/4/25: Rodney Childers’ shock departure at Spire, Scott Parker’s links with Tottenham after PL promotion with Burnley, Super Rugby Round 11/16, Max Verstappen and Western Bears in NRL

by Sports Benches April 24, 2025

Bummer Rodney Childers won’t be back in the No.7 pit box but Spire ain’t backing down nonetheless with all three cars in & out of Top 16 to 20 drivers’ points.

There’s always time with the win and Playoffs still a possibility as long as it’s before September where Spire has the full backing of three talented and experienced drivers in McDowell, Haley and Hocevar.

Parker back to Tottenham?

While Burnley now back to the PL, Scott Parker might not be there because of Tottenham who could get rid of Aussie Ange even if he wins the Europa final.

Maybe it’s best if Scott helps Burnley win it all and see Leeds bottle it at the same time, then he can go considering he hasn’t been successful so far at this top level.

There’s even talk about Leeds wanting to sack Farke in order to avoid his curse record at PL level – looks like it will be advantage Parker for the title then.

Super Rugby: another golden week from the Aussie sides v NZ?

Super Rugby back for another week going the Australian teams away we hope after a few brilliant games including one that ended in a draw, although not so much for the Waratahs unfortunately v Fijian Drua away in Suva.

Yet, things could get even better if Reds, Brumbies and Force all beat their respective NZ teams in Blues, Hurricanes and Chiefs this weekend.

Perfect timing (mark that down) and as of Week 11 out of 16, still no NZ side win recorded yet at least on Australian soil.

Max Verstappen wants out of Red Bull?

Also, Max frustrated behind the scenes being the cut lone figure at Red Bull when McLaren in a Mercedes customer engine are leading the way via Oscar and Lando.

Would love to see him end up at Aston Martin with Honda engines + Adrian Newey again & Franco C. be the ideal one when RB have no other choice post-Max.

NRL finally has a Perth team with assistance of the North Sydney Bears

And last but not least, Perth will finally get a NRL team in a long time with credit to the North Sydney Bears.

That means, the Bears will be expected to play top-level Rugby League once again but looks like half of the games will be played at in Perth with other still going to be at the spiritual North Sydney Oval.

National footprint is important for all of our Aussie sports including rugby despite losing a team in Melbourne but gotta accept it’s the best fight right now in the bid for championships and series trophies.

The big weekend other than the off-weekend of F1 starts tomorrow on ANZAC day Friday before the second last round’s matches is on a bright Saturday night at 9pm and we round it off with the shuffling decks of Talladega come Monday AM.

April 24, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Jordan King Interview: A racer with many hats from Formula 1 with Alpine and Formula E at Mahindra to driver manager, TV punditry, running marathons & stunt driving

by Admin April 11, 2025

Jordan King is a 31-year-old British driver who has competed in several racing series throughout his career. Since 2020, he has been a development and simulator driver for Alpine and also analyzes for F1TV in the F1 Academy Women’s series.

He is also currently a reserve driver for the Mahindra Formula E team, for which he made his debut last May in Berlin when Nyck De Vries had to fulfill his WEC commitments with Toyota in Spa-Francochamps.

Previously, he was the champion of the British F3 International Series (2013). King has also won races in the GP2 Series (2016) and the LMP2 class of the WEC and raced in the IndyCar Series – a huge representation for overseas drivers there with former F1TV presenter Will Buxton now calling races including the upcoming Indianapolis 500 in May for Fox Sports in the United States.

He also competed in Formula 2. While in Formula 1, in addition to Alpine, he was once part of Manor Racing, for which he made his debut in free practice at the 2016 United States Grand Prix and made another appearance at the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

King has also been well acquainted with Jeremy Clarkson on several occasions, including when he was Top Gear host and in the US when he was racing IndyCars for The Grand Tour.

In 2024, he ran the London Marathon, raising over £16,900 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and completing the marathon in 2:58. King also manages the career of 2024 Euro 4 Champion Akshay Bohra.

Although he didn’t exactly have the chance to be part of his Enstone party tour later that year following Alpine’s underdog double podium finish at Sao Paolo, that undoubtedly changed their fortunes in the constructors’ championship (9th to 6th).

Not only that, King has tremendous connections within the Alpine squad since he’s been part of the furniture long enough at the iconic walls of Team Enstone, which produced multiple championships under different team names from Benetton to Renault (first stint between 2002-2011).

He first knows the current Team Principal, Oliver Oakes, who he met as a driver-turned-agent and later team manager in the past and is cool, calm, and collected – we have seen him turn up at press conferences during each and every post-session.

He also has decent contacts in Jamie Campbell Walter, whom he knows well from his sports car driving days. Jamie is currently Franco Colapinto’s manager, while Jordan himself was also part of Franco’s earlier racing life when he was his driving coach back in 2021. But at the end of the day, he is here for all things Alpine, including when he drove a road going A110 in an episode on A League of Their Own.

We spoke with King about the new Formula 1 season particularly with Jack Doohan plus the excellent start of McLaren, whose drivers are expected to break the dominance of Max Verstappen.

What do you think about the start of the new F1 season (from Australian to Chinese GP as of the end of March 2025) and could Australia finally get a world champion in the form of Oscar Piastri?

– So the thing with F1 at the moment is the way the regulations are written, it was designed to try and bring the teams closer and closer together and I think it has done that. It’s stopped one team running away with it. Since these new regulations 3 years ago now, Red Bull were super strong. They then didn’t have it all their way last year and now this year we’re seeing that the field’s a bit more mixed up. OK, McLaren is the strongest for sure, they they look like they got the best car but you’ve still had Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull all in the mix, all racing up there and then even that midfield, you know, from first to last in in the field is not much more than a second so it’s a super tight field. So actually, it’s going to make the racing really good at least, that’s what I feel at the moment.

I’m sure after a few races I’ll be wrong but it looks like it’s going to be a really tight championship with lots going on. Maybe first and second if Oscar and Lando run away with it a little bit, but it still feels like everything’s tangible and everything’s possible.

I suppose for you are these you’ll be rooting for Oscar, for us Brits will be rooting for Lando but yeah I think early days you can’t rule out any possibility. Max is an incredible driver, Red Bull’s a good team so who knows what they have up their sleeve, and I think I read yesterday they’re bringing an upgrade package to the next round so yeah all bets off at the moment – King said.

How will Jack Doohan be able to improve over the next few races for Alpine?

– I think Alpine have big problems at the moment. I work with Alpine and our performance is not good enough. I think we’re the only team that’s not scored a point and you can argue that there was a bit of this, and a bit of that stopped it, but still we haven’t scored a point, performances aren’t good enough, anything other than winning isn’t good enough in this sport.

There’s bigger questions to be asked, but for Jack, you know, it’early days, he’s obviously a good driver, he’s a really nice guy, feels like there’s a lot of pressure. I’m not really sure where this pressure suddenly come from, you know he’s only just started, and it’s not like he’s underperformed particularly.

He’s matched Pierre for pace a few times and race results not great but it seems like a bit of a strange one even before the start of the season, I was starting to hear murmurings of, Jack this Jack that, so I don’t know why. Suddenly, he gets put in the race seat and then there’s talk of stuff happening before they’ve even rolled the dice. So yeah, again, again with that I would say kind of don’t hold your breath too much because, who knows what will happen, wait and see – King added.

So it’s best to ignore the critics like the Franco Colapinto fans, Ralf Schumacher, etc?

– He’s going to know more than you and I, and all those other people. So he actually knows what he has been told and I’m sure he’s had meetings with the right people. He knows what he’s got to do, he knows what he’s got to deliver to keep his job.

It’s still a performance-based sport and a performance-based job so that’s the short of it. If he doesn’t perform, he won’t be in the seat but what the actualmetrics are for that, who knows. Only, people that were in the meeting are privy to that information, so yeah whoever’s.

That’s why I try to actually stay out of the media and stay off the websites because you can read anything that you want to find and most of the time, people just say stuff with with no foundation, or maybe some foundation, but yeah Jack and probably five other people in the world actually know what he’s got to do and what he’s got to deliver and how that looks and what those metrics are – King concluded.

Like the recently deceased legend, Eddie Jordan who was part owner of the London Irish club, King is a big rugby union fan. The Lions tour is a very special competition that takes place once every four years against the best of the Southern Hempisphere and to my joking remark that the Wallabies (Australia) would triumph led by the great Joseph Suaalii and head coach Joe Schmidt, he said he believed the Lions would be champions this year.

April 11, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Formula 1: Going into the non-weekend with Jack Doohan plus a guest onboard to talk through Alpine-Renault’s present form

by Sports Benches March 28, 2025

This weekend is a non-Formula 1 race weekend after back-to-back early races of the new season but as we know now, Red Bull decided to promote Yuki and demote Liam between the senior and secondary teams going forward for next weekend’s Japanese GP at Suzuka Circuit.

While we wish Franco Colapinto could be right up there at least for their secondary team, we still need Jack Doohan to be at his absolute best so he can stay with Alpine-Renault for a little bit longer.

Yes, he has the raw pace who has the ability to match his team-mate Pierre Gasly across practice and qualifying.

However, his race form still needs a lot of work while cutting those ill-disciplines that alienated some fans along the way – me included to be honest. Although happy to take 13th based on the final race results from the previous one last week in China.

At the end of the day, it’s Alpine’s responsibility to get the best out of their own A525 cars, especially when the Renault engine is unfortunately is not on the same wavelength as other PU engine makers – and yet they’re the only team not scoring any points so far (10th in teams’ points at present).

No idea why their performances towards the back end of 2024 was oh so good at least fighting Top 5-7 to just going toe-to-toe at least against the Sauber & secondary Red Bull cars at the moment.

Fortunately, got Jordan King onboard who is also part of the Alpine squad as a development driver to talk through it with some words of optimism there to our Aussie JD7 O.K!

March 28, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Thoughts on Red Bull looking to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda and what does it mean for Franco Colapinto and Jack Doohan?

by Sports Benches March 24, 2025

Over the last 12 to 24 hours, there was a huge twist coming from Red Bull Racing about them looking to replace Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda ahead of the Japanese round just after two races into the new season.

Yes, Max Verstappen is still leading the pack and currently 4 x world drivers’ champ but at the same time, he needs someone who can push this team to the metal – and seems Liam Lawson isn’t that man up for the task unfortunately.

I get it because he’s a New Zealander as someone who personally enjoyed the best of NZ sport too.

You can also tell he made a good impression first and foremost but again, his best finishes were only 9th like three times – nothing more when RB’s goal is to battle for regular wins, podiums & Top 7s.

Plus, he doesn’t really have the sponsors to bring himself in to the table having only made 13 Formula 1 races to his name.

While everyone can’t be a Ollie Bearman or an Andrea Kimi Antonelli, it seems Red Bull may have regret snubbing Franco Colapinto as they are now reconsidering him for their sister team at Racing Bulls – should Yuki replace Lawson immediately.

Again, he’s fast and may have crashed at times but he is also the guy who can bring a bit of everything that Liam wasn’t able to do in between both Red Bull squads.

Sure Flavio would want to think about this so he can at least get his money back and have someone like Franco drive a slightly better car with a decent enough engine than the one he is currently waiting on right in front of Jack Doohan right now which has a bang average Renault engine.

Franco going to Racing Bulls would take the pressure off Doohan no doubt who continues to match Gasly with raw pace in practice and qualifying, although he needs to be a bit more careful so he can keep his cards to his chest in the hope of staying at Alpine for a long times. Plus, Pierre loves having him by his side as also hoping this partnership doesn’t end that quick all because of Flavio’s admiration of Franco.

So all in all, Red Bull should pay Alpine & also Williams whatever it takes to give Franco a chance in Yuki’s spot at Racing Bulls alongside fellow rookie Isack Hadjar, who also seems to show some good potential so far following his step up from F2.

F1 will always a cut-throat sport as Liam had his chance but sure he will end up at either Cadillac, Haas-Ferrari or even Audi at some point when going back to Racing Bulls for the third time may not make much sense for someone who’s already been there with some success unlike Yuki.

Also, instead of trolling Jack all day long to make Franco look good, let’s give him a chance still when the team isn’t even up front right now as he will get there to where he wants to be with time.

March 24, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Formula 1, Alpine-Renault and Jack Doohan: From his 22nd Birthday to first day back at work this week in Enstone

by Sports Benches January 23, 2025

This week was a huge week for Alpine-Renault’s No.7 Jack Doohan from celebrating his 22nd birthday the other day to turning up straight at work aka pre-season duty for his first seat fit in Enstone with a new-look hair cut.

I guess he will want to go a bit more faster then who would want to stick what worked well him in the past – probably to match his personal best on raw pace through one lap, especially when it comes to a full race weekend which is very important for Jack.

Then there’s him stopping by at the office with the man currently running the show that knows about the history of Enstone all too well even though he’s not really Team Principal these days – Flavio Briatore.

Looking forward to the new car reveal soon (A525 chassis) + pre-season testing while Jack is on it working hard every day & always be in the points soon with Pierre.

January 23, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Australian Superbike Championship: January 2025 Interview with Max Stauffer in the Pirelli Superbike category as the new member of the Yamaha squad

by Sports Benches January 23, 2025

I am delighted to have Max Stauffer onboard who spent a few minutes on the phone earlier today having recently joined the Yamaha squad over the off-season alongside the series veteran and 3 x champion Mike Jones ahead of the upcoming ASBK season that will begin as part of the Australian World Superbikes round support bill next month at Phillip Island in Victoria.

We talked about his season from last year when he first stepped up into the Premier Class (Pirelli Superbike category) along with his on-track expectations for the new year of 2025 including some four-wheel crossover talk such as Supercars and Formula 1 like Jack Doohan’s step up into the big time at Alpine-Renault plus many more with his recovery, etc.

SB: First of all, you had some good Top 10 finishes last season including a few occasional podiums. What have you learned last season in the premier ASBK class, which kind of rounds you had & didn’t had success with that would make a huge difference, and how you’re able to pivot towards the front runners in 2025?

MS: Yeah, well 2024 was overall not a bad season for me. Unfortunately, it was injured a lot throughout the year in which I think some injuries might have hindered some performances. I was quite faster at the Queensland tracks that turned out to be really good for me, especially in Morgan Park Raceway – a track that I’ve struggled on on the smaller bike. It should be fast and competitive there, although I was injured on a big bike was quite a big relief. Focusing on 2025, I’ve gotta work on my consistency during races and if I can work that out, then I think I’ll be there to fight for the front row. The raw speed seems to be quite good as I seem to be pretty fast at one lap but I just need to try working on limiting the crashes and be a little bit more consistent throughout the year and throughout the races.

SB: Before you stepped into the premier class, what was the one thing you missed the most as a rider but also still keeping tabs as a spectator when it comes to the ASBK’s list of support categories? Even when World Superbikes & Supercars come over?

MS: One thing I missed is probably not really understanding how to manage a tyre when it’s easy in the smaller classes such as tyre life at the end of the races. That was probably the biggest thing when I stepped up into the premier class was just to managing the tyre and working out when to be fast in the race which was challenging & it didn’t really come too easy for me. But having the support categories there looking back, you can see that I probably could have worked on those things a little bit earlier still. And it’s great to have the World Superbikes out there because when you’re a support category to them, you can watch and learn so much just from what they’re doing by implementing it into your own weekend, so you can try and adapt in order to learn a little bit quicker as well as speeding up the process a bit more.

SB: When the World SBK Australian Round returns at Phillip Island next month, which world class riders you would like to meet in-person?

MS: Not in particular. I think all the World Superbike riders are quite cool – I’m just a big fan of all of them, really. I’m just excited to be in the paddock and sort of just be a part of the atmosphere and the atmosphere in the paddock and throughout the whole weekend, which is quite massive & cool to be part of and also a whole lot different compared to a traditional ASBK meeting. It will be cool to see Toprak (Razgatlıoğlu – reigning riders’ champion for the BMW Motorrad team) do well around Phillip Island and of course, it will be good to see Johnny Rea on the Yamaha be up front as well.

SB: Any Supercars driver you’re looking forward to see later in the year as well (at Ipswich’s Queensland Raceway as part of the support bill in early August)?

MS: The Supercars is a championship that I followed a lot & I’ve always been a bit of a fan of the Red Bull team. Not necessarily keen on meeting or talk to them but it’ll be nice to see the Red Bull team do well on it & just in general, be actually nice if I sort of be getting into the Supercars a bit more & start following the Championship a bit more closely than I do.

SB: How much do keep in touch with some riders who are now living in Europe? Also wondering if you’d be at least keen to race a the Australian MotoGP support race like the Moto 2/3 someday or have any other one-off rides lined up?

MS: I do keep in touch with the few of the riders overseas like Harry [Harrison] Voight in particular. We’re quite good mates & pretty much throughout the season, we message message each other a lot and talk about anything to do with bikes, really – Bikes and training. It’s pretty good that it’s nice to have a relationship with people over there because you always sort of kept in the loop as such and you sort of know what’s going on a little bit. But, yeah, it will be definitely be cool to do a Moto2 wildcard one day – whether that opportunity comes up, I don’t know. But for now, I don’t have really have anything else lined up at the moment as I’m just focusing on doing the best job I can for Yamaha in this year’s Australian Superbike Championship.

SB: Any race tracks would you like to race overseas like Silverstone in the UK for example?

MS: So I’ve written Assen TT (a track located in the Netherlands) before, that was a cool track. A track I would like to ride now would be Jerez which was a bucket list one – I’ve written there now. I’ve always sort of liked Valencia (Circuit Ricardo Tormo), Silverstone would be cool with a track that has a lot of corners but I think any of the European tracks are pretty awesome to be quite honest with you. They’re all so fast and flowing which is a lot different to the traditional Australian tracks, so to go over there and experience all those tracks and layouts and what not would be a fantastic experience nonetheless.

SB. Thoughts on Jack Doohan’s debut Formula 1 last month at Abu Dhabi for Alpine-Renault who is the son of motorcycle legend Mick Doohan with his home Grand Prix coming up in March at Albert Park? Any messages you would like to say to Jack? Also wondering if perusing a career with four wheels would be make sense from a safety point of view? Or why not be better off sticking with two wheels just for the thrill for it?

MS: Yeah, it’s pretty awesome that there’s another Aussie in the Formula One paddock where the Aussies seems to be quite strong. At the moment, it seems they have a strong presence anyway in the paddock with Oscar’s [Piastri – McLaren-Mercedes] doing quite well. And it’s pretty cool to see Jack [Doohan] in there now; so hopefully, he can sort of burst onto the scene and have a good year. It all comes together for him, in particular with his home round, if he could turn up & be straight on the pace by having a good race in front of his home fan base.

But yeah, Im I’m not really sure about the safety aspect of four wheels where they go as just as fast really. I’ve never really been that interested in cars as for me, it’s always been bikes and two wheels – that’s just what I like. But I know there’s plenty of other people think the opposite who just enjoy driving a car more than what they do riding a bike. So yeah, I’m not too sure about any of that as I’ve never driven a car competitively & I can’t really comment on that that too well.

SB: I wish we could see some more two and four wheel crossovers often from John Surtees to Valentino Rossi and even Casey Stoner too?

MS: Yeah, there’s definitely been a lot of great motorbike riders that have sort of made the switch which is something I’ve never really thought about. I suppose I’ve always just thought about trying to be as good as motorbike riders as possible. But one day, it’d be nice to definitely give it a go like jumping in a V8 Supercar or whatever race car and have a scoot around in order to sort of understand and appreciate more what it takes to be good in that field.

SB: Also wondering if you’re into Tennis? Especially at this time of January at the Australian Open with Alex De Minaur coming off on his career best performance to date lately other than being eliminated in the Quarter-Final the other day by Jannik Sinner? Your favourite bike & four-wheel car also? – it can be an everyday road legal or a racing-spec chassis. And like how Tennis players go off to recover after a long few hours match, how’s your own recovery holding up from race to race & season to season?

MS: I don’t really follow the Tennis that much. But my favourite sort of motor vehicle would definitely gotta be the [Yamaha] R1 for road use & for racing use – it’s just so versatile and its strengths are so strong.

For me overall, this is probably one of the best bikes out there that I’ve ridden anyway – definitely my favourite. And in terms of recovery, I just try and do a lot of stretching and eat the right foods and when I am resting, I just rest – not keep up and keep doing stuff. So just rest and let the body heal by coming out the next day to try and be better.

SB: Better than taking part in a five-set Tennis match?

MS: Yeah, for sure.

January 23, 2025 0 comment

Other Sports

Tennis x Sports Crossover at the 2025 Australian Open: Super Rugby, All Blacks & Wallabies preview along with Netball in New Zealand and Jack Doohan under pressure for only the first six races in Formula 1 at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches January 19, 2025

And last but not least, how about we give a shoutout to two Wallabies stars Harry Wilson (Queensland Reds) and Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs), who were both in attendance at Melbourne Park this weekend to cheer on Alex De Minaur.

Yet, the Demon did win after all to play in the 4th round for the 4th straight year of his AO men’s singles career.

It was also nice seeing Harry and Max lend over that Wallabies green and gold jersey to Alex and look at him go! – How good!

Rugby Union

We first have a jam-pack year of Rugby ahead of us with the 11-team Super Rugby competition set to start in a month’s time before the British and Irish Lions arrive at our own backyard during winter. Plus, there’s Club Rugby at the same, the Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup in August-September, and we finish off the year in Europe v the North’s best sides on earth.

First of all, it’s been a bitter blow not seeing Melbourne field a Rugby team anymore in the Rebels when they are a big sporting city due to financial problems. But with lots of people playing AFL (Aussie Rules) and even NRL (Rugby League), it seems there’s no room for Rugby to succeed in that place unfortunately.

Now we are down to four teams with the Western Force still around & as we all know the ACT Brumbies would love to finally play in a Grand Final. However, we would need the Tahs, Reds or even Force to be playing in the semis either way in order for the Wallabies to succeed & that includes the Brumbies. It’s never been a better time to try taking that advantage now, especially with Joseph Suaalii onboard from the Sydney Roosters (NRL) to the Waratahs.

Other than that, the NZ teams will still be dominating for the most part along with a new-look Crusaders, even though the All Blacks had their bad times last season when it comes to the Springboks and France.

Netball

If Rugby isn’t big enough for NZ, why not Netball when they also have a huge year ahead?

The Silver Ferns will be stopping by in Sydney soon to spend nine days there as part of their training camp including a Practice Match v the NSW Swifts featuring the Ferns former star shooter (for now) Grace Nweke on Sunday, February 2.

They will also have a slightly different ANZ Premiership season amongst half of the six teams having brand new coaches (Mainland Tactix, Southern Steel and Northern Stars) between May-July including Finals with a two-round home-and-away format across 10-12 weeks rather than playing three times last year.

Yes, the Ferns haven’t organised any matches lined-up yet for the second half season but we are still expected to see the Taini Jamison Trophy series back regardless of opponent. Although England have won it last year but the good news is that they will be able to defend the Constellation Cup v the Aussie Diamonds following their 3-1 series win back in late October.

And shoutout to former Silver Fern and current GWS Giants (Western Sydney) player Gina Crampton who plays at Wing Attack and was also in attendance from the stands for Alex De Minaur’s game yesterday – sure she still has plenty to offer at age 33, especially playing against the best in Super Netball.

Formula 1

What else? Rugby & Netball isn’t the only sport who mix and matches well with Tennis.

I also wish Alpine-Renault’s Jack Doohan from Formula 1 was there to see Alex also because they do look like each other with both of them having a smiley face personality. Surely, Jack can get some tips on defying those odds from Alex when there’s a bunch of reverse drivers waiting in his wings under pressure including Franco Colapinto. Alex did beat another Argentine actually yesterday too in Francisco Cerundolo; hopefully, this will cheer Jack up in a bid to keep his seat over the first six odd races of the season.

Although I can understand Jack is more aligned with Ayrna Sabalenka because she visited his team’s garage in his unexpected F1 debut last month at Abu Dhabi & Jack came back in return for Ayrna when she played a match a few weeks ago at the Brisbane International.

Post-Notes

Can’t believe there’s a whole lot of other athletes watching for fun there rather than looking to go toe-to-toe with the pro Tennis players & see who’s better?

Time will tell.

January 19, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Thoughts on Flavio Briatore finally securing Franco Colpainto onboard but initially as reserve driver that puts Jack Doohan under all sorts of pressure at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches January 8, 2025

As far as it concerns Jack Doohan, it seems Alpine has finally snapped up Argentine Franco Colapinto but only as a reserve driver for now – probably on loan from Williams I guess that covers just 2025 rather than a permanent deal. Update: It seems he’s onboard on a multi-year deal then, so that means he’s under Alpine now rather than Williams unless Williams inserted some clause in his contact if and when Carlos Sainz Jr. or Alex Albon leaves at some point.

He was under the radar of Flavio Briatore for some time who was impressed by his driving ability when he was unexpectedly a replacement driver for Logan Sargeant at Williams late last season – despite the fact he crashed out during the last 2-3 races of the year that cost them additional money for repairs. At the same time though, Alpine has already sorted out a replacement for Esteban Ocon which was Jack Doohan over Mick Schumacher. But then once the Colapinto hype has begun over scoring points, Flavio thinks he has other ideas to keep him in F1 at his team.

In case you missed it, Flavio likes having someone who has raw pace & can score points, as Colapinto is the one he thinks can form a formidable part for his Alpine F1 team’s masterplan. That means, we will need to get behind Jack 100% so he can score as many Top 7-8 points as possible for the first few years of the new year, especially with the home Australian race being his first shift around the corner.

If not, he could be sacked right on the spot unfortunately after the Miami Grand Prix as per rookie contract clause. Flavio wouldn’t mind making wholesale changes midway during the season when one isn’t doing so well, even though he’s only the team’s executive advisor (a la Director of Football role) to Renault’s boss Luca De Meo rather than being Team Principal.

15th on debut isn’t bad for Jack to be honest at Abu Dhabi having been thrown into the deep end after Esteban Ocon decided to sit out the season finale in order to begin his next ride with Haas early for pre-season testing. But again, he has to be a good match to Pierre Gasly who has been doing the heavy lifting as their No.1 driver as of late, especially with the upgrades working well in their favour.

Now Jack may not have the same capabilities as his compatriot Oscar Piastri but he has scored points and podiums before at junior formula level.

There’s absolutely no reason why he cannot be able to make the most out of his time at the highest level when there’s only 20 odd spots fighting for competition and Jack being the only guy not doing well knowing he might not make it to full season with Franco ready to return to Formula 1 through the gifted help of Briatore by taking over Doohan’s seat if things don’t work out after the first odd races.

So his full support is very, very crucial in the hope of scoring Top 10s almost every race and if he can do that, then there shouldn’t be anymore pressure throwing against Jack & we could see the very best of him by the time Alpine becomes a customer team to Mercedes in 2026.

January 8, 2025 0 comment

Motorsport

Formula 1: A new year with the home Australian GP next up for Jack Doohan to deliver results in a bid to keep his ride after a year of testing/track work at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches January 1, 2025

The first day of the new year (2025) also sees the first start season for Alpine’s new driver Jack Doohan from the Gold Coast in Queensland. He does look a bit like Alex De Minaur from Tennis by the way albeit with a much younger age difference than him and also has the natural Grand Prix roots that stems from his dad’s legendary two-wheel motorcycle career in Mick.

He’s coming off a huge 2024 on the reserves for the most part where he’s been clocking hundreds and thousands of track work on top of his unexpected season-ending debut at Abu Dhabi last month and now it’s up to Jack to deliver right from the word go ahead of his home Grand Prix in Melbourne (Albert Park) come March.

At the moment, he’s under the watchful eye of Flavio Briatore, even though he isn’t the Team Principal nowadays. However, he is still tasked to turn around Alpine’s fortunes at this same Enstone place he held several times before through Benetton in the 90s and Renault for most of the 2000s, and yet he’s not taking any prisoners for any excuse or emotion if Jack or even Pierre does not deliver at least the first few races of 2025.

There’s a reason why Flavio has been sniffing around Franco Colapinto despite him crashing out the last few races of 2024 when he was thrown into the deep end unexpectedly for the axed Logan Sargeant at the time & scored a few points on offer with Alex Albon at Williams.

But let’s hope that isn’t the case as it’s a long time coming for Jack who is the first Alpine F1 Team Academy driver to race for them following a sound Formula 2 & 3 career at junior level. With that being said, scoring Top 7-10 finishes would be a great start then work his way towards being Top 3-5 over time – even with a Mercedes engine if he does stay after this season.

That’s all we want from the 21-year-old who will do whatever it takes to forge a successful long-term relationship with Alpine’s Team Enstone, having seen Enstone witness Renault’s stunning 2005-06 championship campaign led by Spaniard & still racing Fernando Alonso. Keep an eye out for him with testing next month before it’s lights out and the way he goes in a bid to build on his 15th-placed debut finish by turning into a pattern of Top 10 points like Gasly did through the 2nd half of 2024. Best of luck to Jack & his new No.7 race number that looks so good on his A525 Alpine-Renault chassis.

January 1, 2025 0 comment