Oliver Bearman slams Alpine’s “incredibly harsh” decision to drop Jack Doohan

Haas driver Oliver Bearman has hit out at Alpine’s “incredibly harsh” decision to drop fellow Formula 1 rookie Jack Doohan from its driver line-up.

Doohan was benched by Alpine after the Miami Grand Prix last week, with the team bringing in reserve driver Franco Colapinto as his replacement for the next five races.

The Australian, son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan, remains a part of the Renault-owned team after the swap but it’s unclear if he will return to the cockpit later in the year.

In its press release, Alpine hinted at performance as the chief reason for Doohan’s dismissal, with the 22-year-old having failed to muster a single point in a car that has been largely uncompetitive against its midfield rivals.

However, Alpine’s decision hasn’t been poorly received by the paddock, with Bearman saying that Doohan has been treated “unfairly” by the team.

"I can only imagine it's a horrible situation and I feel like his treatment was very unfair," he said at Imola.

"We've gone to four out of six tracks that have been new to us as rookies. We've had two sprint events which are even more difficult for us as rookies.

"Before he even gets to the European season where there are the tracks he knows, he's already thrown out of the car. Incredibly harsh. Imagine."

Another rookie who believes Doohan wasn’t given enough time to find his feet in F1 is Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar.

The Franco-Algerian has already witnessed some brutal demotions within the Red Bull fold, with Liam Lawson being demoted from the squad after just two weekends in favour of Yuki Tsunoda.

But while he understands why performance is a top priority for a team like Red Bull, he believes a midfield squad like Alpine should give rookies more time to settle in.

"Even before the season, it smelled a bit bad, because I think he entered the season with a lot of pressure [and] expectations," said the Frenchman. "So not a really good environment.

"And it feels quite unfair because six races in, he didn't have much time to show anything, and it's not that he had a rocket ship as well. A bit harsh.

"I didn't have a gun to my head before starting the season. So that was definitely helpful.

"I can understand when you're Red Bull, you want to fight for the world championship, so this makes sense maybe in the top team. But otherwise, if you want your rookie to have experience, then you need to give him races. Otherwise, he can't race."

Lawson, who had completed just 11 grands prix prior to 2025, said Doohan deserves another crack in F1.

"It's very cut-throat," he said. "In his first season, he did enough for sure even before F1 to be in Formula 1 in the first place. He deserves to come back. There's 20 seats, it's very tough."