Jack Doohan immediately spotted a braking issue with Racing Bulls 2026 car while watching trackside

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Jack Doohan once again has a reason to be excited for the upcoming Formula 1 season after swapping Alpine for Haas over the winter break.

Alpine gave Jack Doohan just half a dozen races to prove himself last year before he was replaced by Franco Colapinto.

The decision to swap Doohan for Colapinto wasn’t universally popular, despite his hoard of Argentinian fans making themselves known at each race weekend and on social media.

Name the one driver you think is most likely to lose their F1 seat in 2026 👇

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Haas have now offered Doohan a return to the Formula 1 paddock as one of their reserve drivers this year.

He’ll be providing support to Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman throughout 2026, and with the British driver closing in on a one-race ban due to his penalty points situation, Doohan might even be preparing for a return to the grid sooner rather than later.

The young Australian was in attendance at F1 testing in Bahrain last week, and while observing the drivers up close at turn 10, he saw an immediate issue with Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls car.

READ MORE: Who is Jack Doohan? All you need to know, including his MotoGP icon dad

Jack Doohan saw the Racing Bulls car ‘not able to stop’ during Bahrain F1 testing

In a feature with The Race, Doohan was trackside evaluating all 11 teams’ Formula 1 cars for the upcoming season.

Drivers are having to rapidly adapt to the new regulations, which have meant learning to downshift into lower gears through corners to reach higher revs and recharge the battery faster.

Max Verstappen appears to have already mastered the technique, and Red Bull’s engine and gearbox combination seems well-suited to going down into first gear when necessary.

The same can’t be said for the Racing Bulls car when Arvid Lindblad drove past Doohan.

How can Red Bull correct the mistakes they made with Liam Lawson ahead of Isack Hadjar’s debut?

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Doohan remarked: “He’s not able to stop the car earlier [than Isack Hadjar in the Red Bull].

“He’s turning in slightly sooner because he’s not stopped the car, because he’s not putting as much brake pressure on.

“He’s sitting in mid-corner, front scrubbing, understeering and having a much later rotation.”

READ MORE: All to know about Racing Bulls from team principal to Red Bull affiliation

Racing Bulls car coming out of 2026 Bahrain testing with pros and cons

The start of the 2026 season is going to be fascinating for Racing Bulls, particularly as they are fielding the only rookie on the grid this year.

They’re also using the new Red Bull-Ford power unit, but suffered with far more teething problems than their sister team during the first three days in Bahrain.

Lawson’s race starts were encouraging, with the turbo lag that other manufacturers are experiencing not impacting him as much.

Racing Bulls’ top speed data also looked good, but that might be where the positives end.

As Doohan described, the car doesn’t look settled going into a low-speed corner, particularly if Lindblad or Lawson are required to drop down into lower gears to increase the revs and recharge the battery more.

Lawson has admitted he’s struggling to master the technique, which might not be down to him but more to how the car has been designed.

If that’s the case, then it could limit how far up the midfield Racing Bulls can go in 2026.