Oscar Piastri expresses sympathy after Jack Doohan’s axing from Alpine F1

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has expressed his sympathy for fellow Australian driver Jack Doohan after he faced axing at the Alpine F1 team. Doohan is the only other Australian competing in Formula 1 2025 apart from Oscar Piastri. Piastri is now the leader of the championship table, and Doohan hasn't scored any points in the six races so far. Alpine is the one team that keeps its drivers under more pressure and demands results.

As Doohan hasn't scored any, the possibility of him getting sacked is always imminent. But what we didn't expect was the resignation of Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes. It seems like Oakes wanted to back Doohan for the rest of the season. The idea didn't go well with the Alpine leadership, and he decided to step down from his role. 

Also Read: Oliver Oakes' reigns as Alpine F1 Team principal ahead of the Imola GP

Former Renault team principal Flavio Briatore will now take care of the duties left by Oliver, and he denied any role in Oakes' resignation. Franco Colapinto has been named as the replacement for Doohan, and the Australian will remain with the team as a reserve driver. 

The Argentine caught the limelight last year when he scored points for the Williams Racing team. He was meant to be signed by the Red Bull Racing team, but a series of crashes made them back off. Reports say that he has a 5 race deal. Jack Doohan has also released a statement regarding his stepping down. Doohan said, “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.” 

Oscar Piastri offers sympathy to Doohan

Now, Piastri has come in support of his fellow countryman by saying, “Coming to F1, especially as a rookie under pressure, I do feel sorry for him in some ways. It hasn’t 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 75-year-old Briatore will be the head of Alpine from now on. He is the team principal of Benetton when Michael Schumacher won the F1 titles in the 1994 and 1995 seasons. He is also the boss when Fernando Alonso won the F1 title in 2005 and 2006.

But he had always been a controversial figure, and he was the one involved in the Crashgate scandal that occurred in 2008. It changed the course of the championship table, where Felipe Massa lost his F1 title to Lewis Hamilton by the end of that season. He received a lifetime ban from F1 but was overturned by the French court in 2010.

Also Read: Why Alpine F1 turned into a pressure cooker for F1 drivers and team bosses?