Jack Doohan fumes at Alpine for SQ1 exit as F1 future rumours swirl again

Jack Doohan lashed out at Alpine in an angry team radio outburst following his early sprint qualifying exit at the F1 Miami Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old Australian was eliminated in SQ1 in Miami after he could only set the 17th-fastest time, while teammate Pierre Gasly advanced into SQ2 and secured 13th on the grid for Saturday’s shorter race.

Doohan was left unhappy with his Alpine team after he and Gasly ended up being released from the pits at the same time, resulting in the F1 rookie struggling to turn out of his garage.

He required assistance from his team before he could continue on his way and blamed Alpine for him being knocked out in SQ1.

"That's not acceptable,” a livid Doohan lamented over team radio.

"If you're going to send him [Gasly] after me, you have to make sure he's ready, or before me.

"I can't turn out and then have to turn out because he's going to run into me. And then you guys put me out of Q1. That's a joke!"

Speaking in the TV pen after the session, Doohan said: "It all comes down to the last flying lap, and the feeling was good.

“Ended up getting blocked on my way out of the pit lane, which was a mess up because it was from the other [Alpine] car.

“Then I wasn’t able to do a final timed lap. That’s why they make the length of qualy that long, so you can do two laps and improve quite a lot on the second lap.

“I ended up being the last car out there, and didn’t get a chance to do a second lap.There was a lot more time in the car for the second lap. I guess we’ll never know though."

Alpine boss denies Doohan will be replaced at Imola

Earlier on Friday, Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes moved to quash rumours that Doohan will be replaced by reserve driver Franco Colapinto at the next round in Imola.

Intense speculation has surrounded Doohan’s future at Alpine since before a wheel was even turned this season, following Alpine’s decision to add Colapinto to their reserve driver roster in January.

Talk of Doohan losing his seat early in 2025 cooled recently, but comments from the CEO of Argentina’s state-owned oil company YPF have refuelled the speculation.

Speaking in a television interview when he thought he was off-air, Horacio Marin said Colapinto would make his F1 debut with Alpine in Imola.

When asked to confirm if Doohan would be driving at Imola, Oakes replied: "I saw it like everyone else, I think it was a sponsor from Argentina off-camera giving his view on Franco when he's going to be in the car. I'm sure there's a lot of people in Argentina who'd like him in the car this Sunday.

"I think we've been pretty open as a team, and that's just noise out there. Jack needs to continue doing a good job but I think obviously it's natural that there's always that speculation there.

"As it is today, Jack is our driver, along with Pierre. I think we've been pretty clear about that. I mean, we always evaluate it. But yes, today that's the case."