Doohan calls out social hate

Australia’s Jack Doohan has publicly cried out for fans to “stop harassing my family” in the aftermath of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Even though the Argentine fans got their wish with Franco Colapinto replacing Doohan at Alpine, they have still been getting to the Australian.

The Doohan family had hired private security during the Miami Grand Prix weekend and now things have continued online.

After Colapinto crashed in qualifying at Imola, an Instagram story from a fake account pretending to be Jack’s famous MotoGP champion father Mick posted a photo of the aftermath with the words “very impressive” alongside laughing emojis.

The F1 TV directors did not help either by broadcasting an old slow mo of Doohan smiling during the replays of the incident.

This follows Colapinto himself asking fans to stop abusing Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda after Friday practice.

Last night Doohan drew a line in the sand on social media.

“As you can clearly see, the story circulating above is completely false,” Doohan posted on his story.

“It was fabricated by Argentine fans attempting to portray me and my family in a negative light.

“They edited the original content to make it appear as though my father posted it, which is entirely untrue.

“Please stop harassing my family. I didn’t think it would have to get to this point.”

Alpine has also released a statement on the matter.

“We encourage everyone to remember that behind the visor of these superhuman athletes there is a person,” it said.

“An individual with feelings, family, friends, and loved ones. As a team we cannot condone online abuse and urge all fans of this sport we love to be kind and respectful.”

Doohan’s F1 future is unclear with Colapinto replacing him for the next five races, but Flavio Briatore has contradicted his own statement claiming there is no such deadline.

The Monaco Grand Prix is this weekend.

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