Rookies go into bat for Doohan

From the outside it appears Jack Doohan was hardly given a chance and fellow rookies have questioned Alpine’s “very unfair” treatment of the Australian.

After just six races at Alpine, Doohan lost his seat on the F1 grid to Franco Colapinto ahead of this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Even before the 2025 season started, there was intense speculation of a driver swap and despite occasional statements of faith, that has materialised at one of the earliest opportunities.

Across his six-race stint that started at last year’s Abu Dhabi finale, Doohan’s best result was 13th at China.

Despite suffering the occasional incident, Doohan had been slowly progressing having qualified ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly for the first time at Miami, only to trip over Liam Lawson in the race.

His fellow rookies believe Alpine was too harsh in the handling for the Australian.

“I think it is very difficult in that situation to have that pressure weighing over your head already from race one,” Haas Brit Ollie Bearman said.

“I can only imagine it’s a horrible situation and I feel like his treatment was very unfair. 

“Coming from his position, being a rookie myself, it’s very difficult, especially the first quarter of the season. 

“We have gone to – I think – four out of six tracks that have been new for us as rookies.

“We’ve had two sprint events which are even more difficult for us as rookies and before he even gets to the European season where they are the tracks he knows, he is already thrown out of the car, so, incredibly harsh in my opinion.”

Racing Bulls Frenchman Isack Hadjar was worried from the start.

“Even before the season it smelled a bit bad because I think he entered the season with a lot of pressure expectations,” he said.

“So that’s not really a good environment and it feels quite unfair because six races in, he didn’t have much time to show anything – and it’s not like he had a rocket ship as well.”

Kiwi Liam Lawson knows how Doohan feels having been dropped by Red Bull after just two races.

“I think he showed enough to stay in Formula 1. For sure he showed enough to be in Formula 1,” he said.

“How can you be expected in five races to show everything you have, as well in your rookie season?

“It’s very, very tough.”

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