F1 News: Jack Doohan’s father calls out Alpine for ‘unfair’ treatment

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F1 News & Gossip

Jack Doohan’s father calls out Alpine for ‘unfair’ F1 treatment

Jack Doohan was dropped from Alpine's F1 driver lineup

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Monday 13 April 2026 14:57

Mick Doohan, the father of sacked Alpine F1 star Jack Doohan, has spoken out against the team's treatment of his son, labelling it as 'unfair'.

Jack Doohan was part of Alpine's full-time F1 driver lineup for just seven races, brought in early to replace Esteban Ocon at the 2024 season finale, only to be sacked after the sixth round of the 2025 campaign in Miami.

In the Aussie's place, Franco Colapinto was promoted up to the full-time position having waited in the wings as a reserve driver for the Enstone-based squad since departing Williams.

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But neither Doohan or Colapinto managed to make much of an impact after being made Pierre Gasly's team-mate last season.

In fact, the duo were the only drivers on the grid to pick up zero points in 2025, something that reflects poorly on Colapinto given he had three-times as many races to finish in the top 10 as Doohan did before he was cruelly dropped.

Doohan's short stint as an F1 driver was far from easy. The 23-year-old even revealed during the latest season of hit docuseries Drive to Survive that he was sent scary threats from 'fans' of the sport ahead of last year's Miami GP, telling Netflix cameras: "I got serious death threats...saying they’re going to kill me here, if I’m not out of the car."

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Thankfully, Doohan has now found a new home at Haas F1 team, where he now acts as a reserve driver for 2026.

But Jack’s father, and motorsport legend in his own right Mick Doohan, isn't ready to forgive Alpine for how they treated his son, making his view on the matter clear in a recent interview with MARCA.

The Spanish publication reported that the five-time 500cc motorcycle world champion didn’t want to and seemingly wasn't allowed to say much on Jack's time at Alpine so as not to harm his son’s prospects in the sport.

But Mick did tell MARCA: "Honestly, I can’t comment on that. But I think it was unfair. It was unfair from the start.

"They replaced a driver before the season had even begun. And, basically, that was it.

"My son had a long-term contract; he’d been the first junior driver to join Alpine. It was clear, for reasons I can’t disclose, that they took a different direction. And that’s all there is to it."

What's next for Jack Doohan in F1?

Much like they did with Ocon, Haas have now scooped up Doohan from the wreckage of his negative Alpine experience and handed him an F1 lifeline as a reserve driver.

At the time of his signing, the Aussie driver said he was 'grateful' for the opportunity and looked forward to a season of collaboration, with team principal Ayao Komatsu pointing out the 'strength of his racing resume'.

So what does the future of his F1 career look like? According to Mick, Jack is keeping his options open and hoping that Haas will be better at committing to him than Alpine were.

"Look, Jack is a strong young man and his plan is… He’s currently racing in Barcelona in a racing car. He’s now with Haas F1 as a reserve driver, looking to secure a seat and, perhaps, with a team that’s more committed to contracts," the 60-year-old concluded.

And who knows, perhaps a position at Haas will become available sooner rather than later should Ferrari wish to snap up Ollie Bearman in the event of Lewis Hamilton's retirement.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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