Oliver Oakes says he’s ‘really annoyed’ by something he’s seen happen to Jack Doohan at Alpine

It has not been the easiest start to the 2025 season for Alpine, with the team currently level on points with Sauber at just six in the Constructors’ Championship.

Pierre Gasly has scored their only points so far in Bahrain after finishing in seventh place, although he was hit with a disqualification in China for a technical infringement.

Things have not been any better for Jack Doohan, who suffered a big crash in Suzuka when he accidentally forgot to close the DRS entering Turn 1 a high speed.

The big crash effectively destroyed his Alpine and did not help the Australian’s cause, as Doohan is supposed to only be on a five-race contract for the start of the season.

There has been a lot of speculation around Doohan’s position within the team, particularly after Alpine signed Franco Colapinto from Williams as their reserve driver. Team principal Oliver Oakes said there was one thing that annoyed him about fans when speaking on the F1 Nation podcast.

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Oliver Oakes ‘annoyed’ by online abuse directed at Jack Doohan

There was a lot of speculation over how long Doohan would get pre-season, particularly after Williams team principal James Vowles said the deal with Alpine gives Colapinto his best chance of getting on the grid.

Doohan has not put in any spectacular results but has came close to finishing in the points, and Oakes believes people should give him a chance before drawing to conclusions.

“I see it as a real difficult balance. Everyone is entitled to have an opinion but that doesn’t mean we need to bash each other as well. I think there is a real balance,” said Oakes.

“We’ve seen it with Jack over the winter. I really feel for him that everyone was gunning for him before he even had a chance to have a debut in F1. It was kind of annoying me a bit because yes, as a team we signed a reserve driver, but the intention wasn’t then to let everyone have a go at Jack.

“It really annoyed me because I think he’s a young driver and needs to have his chance, and I guess it’s part of the world today because we open up everything to get more content, more access to what we’re doing. But then the downside is you get more noise as well.”

Will Jack Doohan be replaced at Alpine sooner rather than later?

It’s never good for a driver to start the year with questions already over his future, but Doohan has proven his doubters wrong so far with consistent performances.

Doohan snapped at the media during the F1 75 event in London when asked persistently about his contract situation, but on track he’s delivered results regularly in the top 15 places.

The Australian was tipped to be replaced as early as Imola if he didn’t show progress, but Alpine could extend this if they feel he’s been close enough to Gasly.

Ralf Schumacher feels Doohan isn’t good enough for F1, although he also felt that much of Colapinto’s chances of being promoted relied on him bringing sponsorship money.