Doohan clarifies ‘Argentine fans’ post with ‘online abuse’ called out

Former Alpine race driver Jack Doohan has called for an end to “online abuse” directed at his family.

Originally claiming that said abuse was coming from “Argentine fans”, Doohan later rowed back on that, but insisted that “multiple Argentine outlets” were contributing by drawing attention to a “fabricated image”, claiming to show his father Mick Doohan reacting to a crash for Jack’s replacement – Argentine driver Franco Colapinto – at Imola.

Jack Doohan demands end to ‘online abuse’ aimed at his family

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Alpine announced that Doohan had been demoted to reserve driver after seven grands prix with the team, with former Williams racer Franco Colapinto called-up as his replacement.

Colapinto burst onto the scene last season with a string of impressive Williams performances after stepping up from Formula 2 to replace Logan Sargeant, though several high-impact shunts also featured in that stint, and his Alpine debut race weekend featured an unwanted qualifying crash which brought out the red flags at Imola.

In the aftermath, a fake image emerged on social media, portraying Jack’s five-time Motorcycle World Champion father Mick to be mocking the Colapinto crash.

The situation triggered Jack to speak out via Instagram, demanding an end to the abuse being directed at his family.

“As you can clearly see, the story circulating above is completely false,” he wrote.

“It was fabricated by Argentine fans attempting to portray me and my family in a negative light.

“They edited the original content to make it appear as though my father posted it, which is entirely untrue.

“Please stop harassing my family. I didn’t think I would have to get to this point.”

Jack then issued the following update: “The source is not Argentine. However multiple Argentine outlets falsely reported the fabricated image which triggered the online abuse on my family.”

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Alpine issued a statement reminding F1 fans to be “respectful” after Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was also subjected to online abuse, that coming after he waved a hand in frustration at Colapinto during the opening Emilia Romagna GP practice session, believing he had been impeded.

And Colapinto addressed the issue in Imola, urging that “respect” needs to be shown.

“I know they are extremely passionate and they are always very harsh on people,” said Colapinto of his fans when speaking to the media including PlanetF1.com.

“They have to give respect and that’s what we all want.

“There is a lot of hate on social media and that’s what I would think.

“So, of course, we always try and want – for all the drivers – to keep it respectful and keep it calm there.”

Colapinto went on to finish his first Grand Prix with Alpine in P16 from that position on the grid.

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