After a disappointing first campaign in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, Jack Doohan is hopeful of using his learnings from the year as a steppingstone for a bigger and better 2021.
Driving with HWA Racelab in the Championship, the 17-year-old finished a lowly 26th in the standings with no points and a season-high result of 11th in the final race of the season.
Having finished second in the 2019-20 FIA F3 Asian Championship and high on confidence, Doohan was disappointed with how the season unfolded for him, despite producing some glimpses of brilliance across the year.
“To be honest, the season wasn’t great,” Doohan said.
“While there was no particular bad moment, there were no highlights from the year either.
“It was not what I expected unfortunately. It just wasn’t a good season.”
Despite a poor showing from driver and team in the Championship, Doohan was able to learn a variety of key skills relating to race craft and personal development, which he can now carry with him into the future.
His key skill of self-reflection and analysing was pivotal this year as he often compared himself to the standout drivers in Formula 2 and Formula 3, pinpointing where he went wrong and using it as a direction to improve his driving ability.
Doohan’s capacity to observe his fellow competitors was critical when he undertook a post-season testing program with Trident Racing in early October.
The experience from which he had coupled with key outputs from his testing program with Trident means he is looking ahead to a potential partnership with the top-level racing team.
“Being with Trident was an awesome experience and I was made to feel a part of the team,” Doohan explained.
“The atmosphere and the energy were incredible, particularly with the dialogue between the mechanics and the engineers, everyone wants to be there.”
“It was important we knew where we stood and how we finished up, as long as we collected the data we were searching for, it was always going to be in preparation for next year.”
As Doohan prepares for 2021, he will continue to have the backing of Red Bull as part of their junior program.
But without confirmation of who his team will be next year, the teenager has big expectations of himself when he returns to the FIA Formula 3 Championship.
“It’s clear about what I have to do next year, I just have to put this year behind me because it’s not what I expected,” Doohan mentioned.
“I’ll just take away what I learnt from this year and implement it into Trident, if I’m able to drive for them next year.”
Doohan will commence his second assault on the FIA Formula 3 Championship when the first round begins at Barcelona on 7-9 May 2021.