Jack Doohan gets Haas F1 reserve driver job

After losing a 2026 Super Formula seat that once seemed preordained, Jack Doohan’s Toyota backing has landed him at Haas F1 as a reserve driver. I suppose this could plausibly lead to a 2027 drive; Ollie Bearman is assumed to be the heir to Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari seat, and Esteban Ocon won’t be around forever, I guess.

While I’m glad Jack found a way to stay in the paddock, it really sucks that he’s not racing this year.

It sounds like it’s a little more complicated than, “He crashed three times in the same corner in testing, so we booted him,” but it’s surely not not about that. There is a European-style/Japanese-style engineering culture clash in Super Formula, and the visiting drivers do not always get their way, setup-wise. Whether that’s actually what led to Jack getting the boot from Kondo Racing or it’s what the Doohan Camp told journalists as an excuse for him crashing three times, hopefully this Haas job will be a more comfortable place for Jack to gather himself.