Mick Doohan has broken his silence on his son Jack being axed by Alpine and replaced by Franco Colapinto after just seven races in Formula 1
Motorcycle racing icon Mick Doohan, whose son Jack Doohan was this week ousted from Alpine’s roster, has vented his frustration on Instagram. The Australian has lost his place on the Formula 1 grid having failed to score a point across the first six rounds of the 2025 season.
But his more experienced team-mate Pierre Gasly did only finish in the top 10 on one occasion during that period. And Doohan Snr pointed that out on social media as he laid out the results of both Gasly and his son in consecutive story posts, indicating he believed the decision was unduly harsh.
Young Doohan was given a brief stint of just seven Grand Prix races before being abruptly dropped prior to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Aged 22, he failed to pick up any points, though he didn’t have the quickest of cars.
His seasoned colleague Gasly only fared slightly better on that front but regularly showed much better pace. Doohan did not manage better than 13th place at any Grand Prix and had notable crashes in Melbourne, Japan and, most recently, Miami.
Gasly’s performances have not been substantially superior. Except for an impressive outing in Bahrain where he nabbed six points for Alpine, he hasn’t broken into the top 10 in any other major race.
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Explaining the call to drop Doohan and promote Franco Colapinto in his place, Alpine’s new acting team principal Flavio Briatore said: “Having reviewed the opening races of the season, we have come to the decision to put Franco in the car alongside Pierre for the next five races.
“With the field being so closely matched this year, and with a competitive car, which the team has drastically improved in the past 12 months, we are in a position where we see the need to rotate our line-up.
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“We also know the 2026 season will be an important one for the team, and having a complete and fair assessment of the drivers this season is the right thing to do in order to maximise our ambitions next year.
“We continue to support Jack at the team, as he has acted in a very professional manner in his role as a race driver so far this season. The next five races will give us an opportunity to try something different and after this time period we will assess our options.”
While Doohan Snr might consider his son’s departure from Alpine as tough, Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle has an understanding of both sides, reports the Express. “Is it about money? Has Colapinto really got this money?” asked the former F1 racer.
“Colapinto did tear up a few Williams [cars], yes, but he’s shown great potential. It appears to me that Flavio is actually a part of Jack Doohan’s management team, which complicates things somewhat. If Jack’s not delivering the goods, then they’re going to look elsewhere.”
