Chilling Jack Doohan secret comes to light after Alpine demotion
Jack Doohan was reportedly dealing with such serious threats to his safety that he had deployed a 24-hour security team at the Miami Grand Prix.
The chilling detail has come to light after the Australian was dropped by his Alpine team just six races into the 2025 Formula 1 season.
The basket case team has been in chaos in recent weeks, headlined by Doohan's sacking and the shock resignation of former team principal Oliver Oakes.
Rumours of Alpine's plan to promote Franco Colapinto at Doohan's expense swirled from the moment the Argentine made the curious decision to switch from Williams to take up a reserve driver role with the team that previously raced under the 'Renault' flag.
It made Doohan arguably the most under-pressure driver on the grid — and it has now been revealed the 22-year-old was dealing with much more serious matters.
Social media abuse from F1 spectators in Argentina is something Doohan battled publicly throughout the year — but according to leading F1 photographer Kym Illman, there was another chilling layer to the messages Doohan was receiving.
'He was receiving all sorts of threats online so much so that he had around-the-clock security in Miami and was planning on keeping that security for the Brazilian Grand Prix,' Illman said on Instagram.
'It was plain to see by those close to the Aussie that those threats weighed heavily on him.
'People had discovered his personal email address and were sending email threats which resulted in Jack, his girlfriend and even his father holding real concerns for their safety in Miami and on top of that, Jack's sleep was affected.
'I'm certain Franco wouldn't be endorsing any of that behaviour from what is a minority of his fanbase.'
Doohan has been dating Australian Ebony Zippora Gold. The pair have been seen at several public events together, but have not discussed their relationship in public.
According to UK media, Gold currently lives in Monaco. Jack Doohan is also based out of Monaco like many F1 drivers.
Colapinto has developed a hard-line following in his country of 45 million people with the football-mad nation's interest in Formula 1 skyrocketing since he made his debut last year.
Some of those followers reportedly took the disgusting step of abusing Doohan to get their rising star back into a driving seat.
Alpine's decision to drop Doohan and install Colapinto alongside Pierre Gasly did not go over well with Jack's father Mick Doohan.
The motorcycle legend attempted to come to the defence of his son as he took aim at the F1 team over the brutal move.
The five-time MotoGP world champion posted a graphic of Doohan and Gasly's race results from the season so far on his Instagram stories.
He 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.
For the record, Gasly's results are 11th, 11th, 13th, 7th, DNF, 13th and Doohan's results are: DNF, 13th, 15th, 14th, 17th, DNF.
F1 drivers are measured closely against their teammates first and foremost, and Doohan finishing behind Gasly would not have gone unnoticed within Alpine.
Mick Doohan sharing Pierre Gasly and his son Jack’s results from this season on his Instagram stories … ðŸ¤'
Alpine replaced Jack for Franco Colapinto on Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/Q72C9uX9S0
— Daniel Valente ðŸ�Žï¸� (@F1GuyDan) May 7, 2025
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
42 minutes ago
- The Advertiser
Piastri-Norris boilover 'inevitable' in F1 title hunt
Lando Norris knows it's only a matter of time before his brewing rivalry with Oscar Piastri reaches boiling point. Piastri heads the Formula One championship by 10 points over teammate Norris after leading the third McLaren one-two finish this season with a flawless race at the Spanish Grand Prix. Australia's Piastri is in career-best form ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, shooting into title contention after banking five race wins. Meanwhile, Norris - long viewed as McLaren's No.1 driver - has taken just two wins. Well aware that his biggest competition is on the other side of the garage, Norris concedes an on-track confrontation is inevitable as the season progresses. "We never said we're going to avoid everything," Norris said. "We've actually been quite open in saying at some point something is probably going to happen. We just have to be ready for that. "Everything is in the open, everything is obvious, everything is known between us. "We both want to win, we both want to beat each other, but at the end of the day there can only be one person, and that will be whoever performs the best over the course of the year. "I think Andrea (Stella, McLaren team principal) said it, it's not an 'if', it's a 'when' and we'll see when that time comes. "We'll try and avoid everything as much as possible, but it's inevitable that it happens in racing." Piastri and Norris wouldn't be the first F1 teammates to come to blows on the track. In 2018 former Australian racer Daniel Ricciardo was involved in a high-speed crash with a then-young upshot Max Verstappen. The two had banged wheels multiple times on the Baku City Circuit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, before Ricciardo eventually ran up the back of Verstappen at the end of the main straight. Lewis Hamilton also had numerous volatile confrontations with former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, with Sebastien Vettel also locking horns with Mark Webber at Red Bull. Piastri, managed by fellow Aussie Webber, conceded that Norris poses a larger threat than reigning four-time champion Verstappen. Red Bull heavyweight Verstappen has won two races and is 39 points behind the McLaren pair. "Lando is the main opponent, but I'm not going to rule out Max," Piastri said. "The gap is obviously a bit bigger now, but it's not insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination. "We're going to keep pushing to try and make our car even faster, make myself even faster, but yeah, I think the main opponent, let's say, is Lando." Piastri is keeping a lid on the championship hype after joining Hamilton and Ayrton Senna in holding eight consecutive podiums. The 24-year-old has only missed the podium once this season - his home race in Melbourne. "I mostly blank it out. I know exactly why I'm here. It's to try and win a championship," Piastri said. "I think all the other stats that go along with that - yeah, OK, they're cool. "The coolest one by far is putting myself in the list of world champions." Lando Norris knows it's only a matter of time before his brewing rivalry with Oscar Piastri reaches boiling point. Piastri heads the Formula One championship by 10 points over teammate Norris after leading the third McLaren one-two finish this season with a flawless race at the Spanish Grand Prix. Australia's Piastri is in career-best form ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, shooting into title contention after banking five race wins. Meanwhile, Norris - long viewed as McLaren's No.1 driver - has taken just two wins. Well aware that his biggest competition is on the other side of the garage, Norris concedes an on-track confrontation is inevitable as the season progresses. "We never said we're going to avoid everything," Norris said. "We've actually been quite open in saying at some point something is probably going to happen. We just have to be ready for that. "Everything is in the open, everything is obvious, everything is known between us. "We both want to win, we both want to beat each other, but at the end of the day there can only be one person, and that will be whoever performs the best over the course of the year. "I think Andrea (Stella, McLaren team principal) said it, it's not an 'if', it's a 'when' and we'll see when that time comes. "We'll try and avoid everything as much as possible, but it's inevitable that it happens in racing." Piastri and Norris wouldn't be the first F1 teammates to come to blows on the track. In 2018 former Australian racer Daniel Ricciardo was involved in a high-speed crash with a then-young upshot Max Verstappen. The two had banged wheels multiple times on the Baku City Circuit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, before Ricciardo eventually ran up the back of Verstappen at the end of the main straight. Lewis Hamilton also had numerous volatile confrontations with former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, with Sebastien Vettel also locking horns with Mark Webber at Red Bull. Piastri, managed by fellow Aussie Webber, conceded that Norris poses a larger threat than reigning four-time champion Verstappen. Red Bull heavyweight Verstappen has won two races and is 39 points behind the McLaren pair. "Lando is the main opponent, but I'm not going to rule out Max," Piastri said. "The gap is obviously a bit bigger now, but it's not insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination. "We're going to keep pushing to try and make our car even faster, make myself even faster, but yeah, I think the main opponent, let's say, is Lando." Piastri is keeping a lid on the championship hype after joining Hamilton and Ayrton Senna in holding eight consecutive podiums. The 24-year-old has only missed the podium once this season - his home race in Melbourne. "I mostly blank it out. I know exactly why I'm here. It's to try and win a championship," Piastri said. "I think all the other stats that go along with that - yeah, OK, they're cool. "The coolest one by far is putting myself in the list of world champions." Lando Norris knows it's only a matter of time before his brewing rivalry with Oscar Piastri reaches boiling point. Piastri heads the Formula One championship by 10 points over teammate Norris after leading the third McLaren one-two finish this season with a flawless race at the Spanish Grand Prix. Australia's Piastri is in career-best form ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, shooting into title contention after banking five race wins. Meanwhile, Norris - long viewed as McLaren's No.1 driver - has taken just two wins. Well aware that his biggest competition is on the other side of the garage, Norris concedes an on-track confrontation is inevitable as the season progresses. "We never said we're going to avoid everything," Norris said. "We've actually been quite open in saying at some point something is probably going to happen. We just have to be ready for that. "Everything is in the open, everything is obvious, everything is known between us. "We both want to win, we both want to beat each other, but at the end of the day there can only be one person, and that will be whoever performs the best over the course of the year. "I think Andrea (Stella, McLaren team principal) said it, it's not an 'if', it's a 'when' and we'll see when that time comes. "We'll try and avoid everything as much as possible, but it's inevitable that it happens in racing." Piastri and Norris wouldn't be the first F1 teammates to come to blows on the track. In 2018 former Australian racer Daniel Ricciardo was involved in a high-speed crash with a then-young upshot Max Verstappen. The two had banged wheels multiple times on the Baku City Circuit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, before Ricciardo eventually ran up the back of Verstappen at the end of the main straight. Lewis Hamilton also had numerous volatile confrontations with former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, with Sebastien Vettel also locking horns with Mark Webber at Red Bull. Piastri, managed by fellow Aussie Webber, conceded that Norris poses a larger threat than reigning four-time champion Verstappen. Red Bull heavyweight Verstappen has won two races and is 39 points behind the McLaren pair. "Lando is the main opponent, but I'm not going to rule out Max," Piastri said. "The gap is obviously a bit bigger now, but it's not insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination. "We're going to keep pushing to try and make our car even faster, make myself even faster, but yeah, I think the main opponent, let's say, is Lando." Piastri is keeping a lid on the championship hype after joining Hamilton and Ayrton Senna in holding eight consecutive podiums. The 24-year-old has only missed the podium once this season - his home race in Melbourne. "I mostly blank it out. I know exactly why I'm here. It's to try and win a championship," Piastri said. "I think all the other stats that go along with that - yeah, OK, they're cool. "The coolest one by far is putting myself in the list of world champions." Lando Norris knows it's only a matter of time before his brewing rivalry with Oscar Piastri reaches boiling point. Piastri heads the Formula One championship by 10 points over teammate Norris after leading the third McLaren one-two finish this season with a flawless race at the Spanish Grand Prix. Australia's Piastri is in career-best form ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, shooting into title contention after banking five race wins. Meanwhile, Norris - long viewed as McLaren's No.1 driver - has taken just two wins. Well aware that his biggest competition is on the other side of the garage, Norris concedes an on-track confrontation is inevitable as the season progresses. "We never said we're going to avoid everything," Norris said. "We've actually been quite open in saying at some point something is probably going to happen. We just have to be ready for that. "Everything is in the open, everything is obvious, everything is known between us. "We both want to win, we both want to beat each other, but at the end of the day there can only be one person, and that will be whoever performs the best over the course of the year. "I think Andrea (Stella, McLaren team principal) said it, it's not an 'if', it's a 'when' and we'll see when that time comes. "We'll try and avoid everything as much as possible, but it's inevitable that it happens in racing." Piastri and Norris wouldn't be the first F1 teammates to come to blows on the track. In 2018 former Australian racer Daniel Ricciardo was involved in a high-speed crash with a then-young upshot Max Verstappen. The two had banged wheels multiple times on the Baku City Circuit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, before Ricciardo eventually ran up the back of Verstappen at the end of the main straight. Lewis Hamilton also had numerous volatile confrontations with former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, with Sebastien Vettel also locking horns with Mark Webber at Red Bull. Piastri, managed by fellow Aussie Webber, conceded that Norris poses a larger threat than reigning four-time champion Verstappen. Red Bull heavyweight Verstappen has won two races and is 39 points behind the McLaren pair. "Lando is the main opponent, but I'm not going to rule out Max," Piastri said. "The gap is obviously a bit bigger now, but it's not insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination. "We're going to keep pushing to try and make our car even faster, make myself even faster, but yeah, I think the main opponent, let's say, is Lando." Piastri is keeping a lid on the championship hype after joining Hamilton and Ayrton Senna in holding eight consecutive podiums. The 24-year-old has only missed the podium once this season - his home race in Melbourne. "I mostly blank it out. I know exactly why I'm here. It's to try and win a championship," Piastri said. "I think all the other stats that go along with that - yeah, OK, they're cool. "The coolest one by far is putting myself in the list of world champions."
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris F1 title fight will lead to 'inevitable' on-track battle
A fight between McLaren teammates on track has been called "inevitable" by British driver Lando Norris, as he enters this weekend's race 10 points behind partner, and world championship leader, Oscar Piastri. Melbourne-born Piastri has been terrific through nine rounds, winning five grand prix to Norris's two. Norris has been a consistent performer throughout the season, not finishing a grand prix lower than fourth and securing two wins. The Brit's win at the season opener in Australia, where Piastri spun late and finished ninth, is the furthest the two have been split in 2025. After defending world champion Max Verstappen finished 10th at the Spanish Grand Prix two weekends ago, leaving him 49 points off Piastri, the drivers' championship fight appears to be down to the two McLaren racers. Asked ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, Norris said he and Piastri have been open about their desire to become world champion and knowing that each other's path to the title will cross throughout the year. "I think we've actually been quite open in saying at some point, something is probably going to happen," Norris said in Montreal. "We just have to be ready for that. I think both Oscar and myself know that, we're competitive, we want to beat each other but the main thing is we stay strong together as a team. But everything is in the open, everything is obvious, everything is known between us. "We both want to win, we both want to beat each other, but at the end of the day there can only be one person and that will be whoever performs the best over the course of the year." There was a moment between the McLaren drivers during qualifying in Spain, when Norris got in the slipstream of Piastri's car to increase his speed at the start of a flying lap. Piastri was heard over the radio calling Norris's move "cheeky", but any animosity was hosed down by team principal Andrea Stella. 'We always tell our drivers like, 'don't leave anything in the back of your mind, anything, throw it out, say what you think'. In this case I think that Oscar's comment was to highlight a situation that we didn't discuss before," Stella said following the incident in Spain. 'In itself, it's not anything too controversial, but we sort of did not discuss that before and we don't want to surprise our drivers with situations that we didn't discuss before, so a little bit to take on for the team rather than for the drivers." Piastri was able to put that moment aside to qualify on pole in Barcelona, then drive a flawless race to claim the win. Despite a huge focus on the intra-McLaren battle in 2025, Piastri has taken a longer-term view of his battle with Norris. The Australian said the team planned on being at the front of the F1 field for many years, meaning he and Norris would hopefully be battling for race wins and world titles beyond 2025. "We want this to be the case for many years to come and the best way to protect that is by having a very strong team around both of us," Piastri said. "We're aware that whatever happens in the championship this year, or how things go, is much bigger than just this season and potentially defines our whole career. "We're very aware of that fact, of course we still want to beat each other and win a world championship but we know that there's a bigger picture as well." ABC Sport will have a live blog of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix from 2am, AEST, on Monday, June 16.
Perth Now
4 hours ago
- Perth Now
Piastri-Norris boilover 'inevitable' in F1 title hunt
Lando Norris knows it's only a matter of time before his brewing rivalry with Oscar Piastri reaches boiling point. Piastri heads the Formula One championship by 10 points over teammate Norris after leading the third McLaren one-two finish this season with a flawless race at the Spanish Grand Prix. Australia's Piastri is in career-best form ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, shooting into title contention after banking five race wins. Meanwhile, Norris - long viewed as McLaren's No.1 driver - has taken just two wins. Well aware that his biggest competition is on the other side of the garage, Norris concedes an on-track confrontation is inevitable as the season progresses. "We never said we're going to avoid everything," Norris said. "We've actually been quite open in saying at some point something is probably going to happen. We just have to be ready for that. "Everything is in the open, everything is obvious, everything is known between us. "We both want to win, we both want to beat each other, but at the end of the day there can only be one person, and that will be whoever performs the best over the course of the year. "I think Andrea (Stella, McLaren team principal) said it, it's not an 'if', it's a 'when' and we'll see when that time comes. "We'll try and avoid everything as much as possible, but it's inevitable that it happens in racing." Piastri and Norris wouldn't be the first F1 teammates to come to blows on the track. In 2018 former Australian racer Daniel Ricciardo was involved in a high-speed crash with a then-young upshot Max Verstappen. The two had banged wheels multiple times on the Baku City Circuit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, before Ricciardo eventually ran up the back of Verstappen at the end of the main straight. Lewis Hamilton also had numerous volatile confrontations with former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, with Sebastien Vettel also locking horns with Mark Webber at Red Bull. Piastri, managed by fellow Aussie Webber, conceded that Norris poses a larger threat than reigning four-time champion Verstappen. Red Bull heavyweight Verstappen has won two races and is 39 points behind the McLaren pair. "Lando is the main opponent, but I'm not going to rule out Max," Piastri said. "The gap is obviously a bit bigger now, but it's not insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination. "We're going to keep pushing to try and make our car even faster, make myself even faster, but yeah, I think the main opponent, let's say, is Lando." Piastri is keeping a lid on the championship hype after joining Hamilton and Ayrton Senna in holding eight consecutive podiums. The 24-year-old has only missed the podium once this season - his home race in Melbourne. "I mostly blank it out. I know exactly why I'm here. It's to try and win a championship," Piastri said. "I think all the other stats that go along with that - yeah, OK, they're cool. "The coolest one by far is putting myself in the list of world champions."
