‘Proud’ Doohan learns Alpine destiny after horror begin to F1 marketing campaign

Speculation has grew to become to affirmation with Australian Jack Doohan relieved of his Formula One riding tasks.

The 22-year-old son of bike nice Mick, had but to attain some extent in his six races in 2025 for the Alpine crew, who’re 9th within the 10-team standings.

It used to be introduced on Wednesday that Doohan might be changed within the seat by way of Franco Colapinto, with the Argentine becoming a member of Pierre Gasly in red for subsequent week’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

“I am very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional Formula One driver and I will forever be grateful to the team for helping me achieve this dream,” Doohan mentioned.

“Obviously, this latest chapter is a tough one for me to take because, as a professional driver, naturally I want to be racing … We have long-term goals as a team to achieve and I will continue to give my maximum efforts in any way I can to help achieve those.

“For now, I will keep my head down, keep working hard, watch with interest the next five races and keep chasing my own personal goals.”

Earlier on Wednesday, championship chief Oscar Piastri expressed his sympathy for his fellow Australian.

“Coming to F1, especially as a rookie under pressure, I do feel sorry for him in some ways,” McLaren driving force Piastri advised ABC TV from England.

“It’s not been the easiest start to the year for him and I know how hard it is to get to F1 in the first place.

“So I think whatever happens, he can be very proud of the journey so far.”

The shake-up at Alpine continues after crew major Oliver Oakes resigned and used to be changed by way of Italian Flavio Briatore on Tuesday.

Briatore, 75, used to be boss of Alpine once they raced as Benetton and Renault and gained championships with Michael Schumacher in 1994 and 1995 and Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.

He used to be additionally instrumental in signing Colapinto from Williams as reserve closing January.

Briatore stays a debatable determine in F1 because of his involvement within the ‘Crashgate’ scandal wherein Renault mounted the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to permit Alonso to win.

He gained an entire life ban however that used to be overturned by way of a French court docket in 2010.

While Doohan is 19th within the drivers’ standings after two retirements and a easiest end of 14th, Piastri is 16 issues transparent on the most sensible within the wake of 4 wins within the first six rounds.

A 3rd successive victory at Miami on the weekend has fired expectancies again house that Piastri will transform the primary Aussie international champion since Alan Jones in 1980.

The 24-year-old, who used to be born and raised in Melbourne, made it transparent that he used to be no longer about to get over excited by way of the hype.

“It’s still incredibly early in the season, we’re only 25 per cent of the way through,” he mentioned.

“The position we’re in is nice, the race wins we’ve had are nice, but I think the effort and the hard work that’s gone on behind the scenes to achieve all that is what I’m most satisfied with.

“There’s still some things to improve and not everything’s gone exactly how I wanted it, but I’m excited for what the rest of the season has to come.”
With Reuters.

© AAP