Helmut Marko brands Jack Doohan a ‘C-rate driver’ in brutal assessment

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has branded Alpine rookie Jack Doohan a “C-rate” driver ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

And he believes the former Red Bull driver will be dropped during the F1 2025 season amid rumours that he could be replaced by Alpine reserve Franco Colapinto.

Will Jack Doohan last the season with Alpine?

Jack Doohan, the son of Australian motorcycling legend Mick Doohan, was signed as Pierre Gasly’s new team-mate for 2025 at last year’s Dutch Grand Prix, four days before Colapinto was promoted to a race seat with Williams.

Colapinto’s impressive performances over the final nine races of 2024 saw him linked with a number of teams, including Red Bull, before Alpine signed the Argentine as one of four reserve drivers for F1 2025.

With Doohan’s contract widely reported to cover only the first few races of the new season, it has been speculated that he could be replaced by Colapinto within weeks.

F1: A dog-eat-dog world

? Revealed: The shortest F1 careers this century in the brutal world of Formula 1

? All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history

PlanetF1.com understands that Doohan’s continued participation in the new season will be based on performance, as is the case with every other driver on the grid.

Doohan spent four years in Red Bull’s famed driver academy, which over the last two decades has produced the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, between 2017 and 2021 before joining Alpine’s junior scheme in 2022.

Despite his previous working relationship with Doohan, Marko described the Gold Coast-born star as a C-rate driver before warning that he is likely to be replaced at some point during the F1 2025 campaign.

Appearing on Red Bull’s in-house station Servus TV, Marko was asked to grade Doohan and replied: “He is a ‘C’. I don’t think he will complete the season.”

The 81-year-old made no further comment on Doohan before running the rule over the remaining rookies on the F1 2025 grid including Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Oliver Bearman (Haas) and Isack Hadjar, the latest Red Bull graduate.

Marko claimed that Bortoleto, the first full-time Brazilian F1 driver since Felipe Massa in 2017, lacks “pure speed” despite achieving the rare feat of winning the F3 and F2 titles in successive years in 2023/24.

He said: “I would classify him as a ‘B’ driver.

“He’s a very intelligent driver: he won the Formula 3 championship, but with only one win and he usually stays out of trouble.

“In Formula 2 he only managed two victories. He is a driver who brings the car home safely, has a good command of strategy and tyre management, but I don’t see that pure speed in him.”

Antonelli, meanwhile, has been described as the most exciting talent to arrive in F1 since Verstappen, the reigning four-time World Champion, made his debut a decade ago.

The 18-year-old memorably crashed out of his first FP1 appearance for Mercedes at last year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Marko believes Antonelli has the potential to emerge as a leading F1 driver if he can handle the pressure of making his debut in one of the most coveted seats on the grid having been confirmed as Lewis Hamilton’s successor.

He said: “He is clearly an elite driver, although he is under enormous pressure.

“His performance is impressive: he has already driven around 10,000 test kilometres, but he has also had two serious accidents. You can feel the pressure on him.

“And, of course, Toto Wolff wants to repeat the Verstappen story at Mercedes.

“However, going straight to an elite team will be a challenge for him. But in terms of potential, he is certainly a top driver.”

Bearman already has three F1 appearances to his name after stepping in for Carlos Sainz (Saudi Arabia) and Kevin Magnussen (Azerbaijan, Brazil) for Ferrari and Haas respectively in 2024.

Marko fears Bearman’s aggressive driving style could slow his development compared to former F1 team-mate Antonelli, commenting: “He is a very fast driver, although he had a lot of accidents in Formula 2 and Formula 3 because he takes big risks.

“He goes to the limit. Maybe he won’t get to the top as fast as Antonelli, but he’s definitely a standout.”

Hadjar secured an F1 seat with Racing Bulls (previously AlphaTauri/Toro Rosso) despite losing the F2 title to Bortoleto by 22.5 points, having held a lead of 36 points with four rounds of the season remaining.

Marko awarded the Red Bull graduate an ‘A’ grade, claiming the French-Algerian could unlock his vast potential if he manages to “control his emotions” after a number of team radio outbursts in F2.

He said: “Hadjar lost the championship by only four or five points [sic].

“Our data analysts calculated that he lost about 80 points due to technical failures and other problems.

“So he is very fast. I would say that if he continues to develop well and learn to control his emotions, he has A-level potential as well.”

Read next:?How Andy Cowell will manage Newey and Aston Martin’s galaxy of stars