Mick Doohan comes out swinging in defence of son Jack after F1 sacking
A motorsport legend has come out swinging in defence of his son after the Aussie young gun was unceremoniously axed from the F1 grid.
Jack Doohan’s motorcycle legend dad has come out in defence of his son after the young Australian was sacked just seven races into his Formula One career.
On Wednesday it was confirmed Doohan had been dropped by Alpine following the Miami Grand Prix, with reserve driver Franco Colapinto to take his place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy later this month.
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Colapinto, who made his F1 debut last season for Williams, is only guaranteed to suit up for the next five races as Alpine adopts a “rotation” policy.
“As part of an ongoing assessment of its driver line-up, the team has made the decision to rotate one of its race seats for the next five rounds of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship,” Alpine said in a statement.
“BWT Alpine Formula One Team therefore announces that Franco Colapinto will be paired with Pierre Gasly from the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, ahead of a new evaluation before the British Grand Prix in July.”
Doohan hasn’t set the world on fire this season and the tough start to his F1 career continued in Miami when he crashed into Liam Lawson on the opening lap and was forced out of the race.
Alpine’s car is one of the slowest on the grids but that didn’t prevent the 22-year-old from getting sacked just six races into the season after he made his debut at last year’s season finale.
Now his dad Mick Doohan, a five-time MotoGP world champion, came out in support of his son — posting a graphic of Doohan and Pierre Gasly’s race results from the season so far on his Instagram stories.
Mick was attempting to highlight just how poorly the Alpine car has been performing, but F1 fans pointed out that the graphic he shared only served to emphasise how Jack was outclassed by his teammate.
Mick Doohan sharing Pierre Gasly and his son Jack’s results from this season on his Instagram stories … 🤔
— Daniel Valente ðŸŽï¸ (@F1GuyDan) May 7, 2025
Alpine replaced Jack for Franco Colapinto on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/Q72C9uX9S0
For the record, Gasly’s results are 11th, 11th, 13th, 7th, DNF, 13th and Doohan’s results are: DNF, 13th, 15th, 14th, 17th, DNF.
“Mick Doohan with the receipts,” one person said on X.
The Inside Alpine account posted: “He’s correctly highlighting just how bad the A525 that Alpine produced for this season is.” ï¸
A fan commented: “He reminds them their car is the problem not his son.”
“I get that it’s his son but none of those results justify anything,” a second said.
A third added: “But in every place that his son finished, he was 0-3 with Pierre and he’s showing that.”
Another commented: “Most of the positions in the case of Doohan were just ahead of DNF drivers and he was finally the last driver finishing the race.”
Mick has been a constant presence trackside throughout his son’s career so far as Jack climbed the ranks, winning races in junior categories and Formula 2 before landing an F1 seat.
Last month Mick shared a photo of a massive mural for his home showing himself racing on a motorbike and Jack alongside him in the Alpine F1 car.
It remains to be seen if Jack will get another chance to rekindle his F1 career, with Colapinto and Alpine reserve driver Paul Aron both highly touted prospects likely.
Alpine is ninth in the constructors’ standings and the team has been mired in turmoil to start the season, culminating in the resignation of team principal Oli Oakes this week.
The team’s executive advisor Flavio Briatore, who is also Doohan’s manager, will also take on the team principal duties previously performed by Oakes.
Briatore, who oversaw multiple world titles for Benetton in the 1990s and Renault in the mid-2000s, was the dominant figure of the “Crashgate” scandal which saw his driver Nelson Piquet intentionally crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help Renault teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.
“I am very proud to have achieved my lifelong ambition to be a professional Formula 1 driver and I will forever be grateful to the team for helping me achieve this dream,” Doohan said in an Alpine statement after his demotion.
“Obviously, this latest chapter is a tough one for me to take because, as a professional driver, naturally I want to be racing.
“That said, I appreciate the team’s trust and commitment. 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.”
The F1 season continues at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday 18 May at 11pm AEST.
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