Despite rumors about his future, Jack Doohan confirmed the race number he will use for his 2025 debut with a post on Alpine’s official Instagram profile.
During the Las Vegas weekend, Jack Doohan revealed the race number he will use for his 2025 Formula 1 debut. The announcement came through a video on Alpine’s social media channels, featuring two playing cards as a nod to Nevada’s gambling capital
The Australian driver, son of five-time MotoGP champion Mick Doohan, will make his Formula 1 debut with the French team in 2025. Like every rookie, he faced the challenging decision of choosing a race number, which often becomes a symbol of identity. Doohan ultimately opted for 7, a number not seen in Formula 1 since 2021, the year of Kimi Räikkönen’s retirement
“So, that’s it. Number 7 will be my race number for 2025. I’m super psyched. I really wanted to go with a number than I’d raced with before, something that had meaning to me. I raced with #7 in 2019 and also one of my idols, a super special person and driver, Kimi Raikkonen who also drove with that number. I’m really looking forward to continuing it on and making it my own and getting some luck from #7. ”,said an emotional Jack Doohan in the video published by Alpine.
The Australian driver has already raced with the number 7 in 2019, a year in which he competed in the Euroformula Championship, finishing in 11th place overall with two podiums at Hockenheim and the Red Bull Ring. He also participated in the Asian Formula 3 Championship, finishing second overall with an impressive tally of 5 victories and 4 pole positions
Jack Doohan chooses his race number: however, 7 was not his first choice.
Although the number 7 is still significant, it was not Jack Doohan’s first choice. In fact, once his move to Formula 1 for 2025 was confirmed, the Australian driver had stated: ” “I’m pretty sure it’s quite known now but I will choose #12. I’ve been thinking about it over the summer break and then we locked it in, so 12 will be the number I start my Formula 1 season with.”
The number 12 had been available since the end of the 2018 season, as it had not been used since it was last raced by Sauber’s Felipe Nasr in the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, an unexpected issue arose: Mercedes had already submitted a request to assign the number 12 to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, also in preparation for his 2025 debut
The number 12 is also “special” to a third driver: Franco Colapinto, who, despite currently being without a seat for 2025, has stated that he would like his career to be accompanied by the number 12 for football-related reasons. In fact, , “La Doce” refers to the group of Boca Juniors fans, the team Colapinto supports, in reference to the “twelfth man on the field.”
However, Doohan chose the number 7, abandoning the 12, which will most likely be seen on the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli has already used the number 12 during FP1 sessions in Monza and Mexico, as Mercedes had already submitted a request to the FIA to secure that number.
PHOTO: Jack Doohan, BWT Alpine F1 Team, Mercedes AMG F1, Pirelli.