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Supercars driver and Jack Doohan's childhood friend, Broc Feeney, shared his message of motivation for the Aussie driver, after Doohan was dropped by Alpine after just six races in the 2025 season. The 22-year-old also wished for his friend to return to the heights of F1 again soon.
Jack Doohan was replaced with Franco Colapinto by Alpine upon the expiration of his unusual six-race contract with the team. Colapinto has now joined the French team on a five-race deal, as part of a rotational driver policy.
Having raced together in their childhood years in Australia, Broc Feeney and Jack Doohan became close friends. Feeney, who races in the Supercars Championship for Triple Eight Race Engineering, gave his take on Doohan being replaced by Alpine after just six races.
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"I just sent him a message to make sure he’s all good. It’s obviously disappointing to see that he’s not continuing on for the rest of the year. There was a lot of talk unfortunately before the start of the year and it’s come true," said Feeney, via Speedcafe.
"I just wish him all the best and I hope he gets back in there soon," he added.
While announcing the driver change, Alpine shared that the move came 'as part of an ongoing assessment of its driver line-up', and the terminology they used was 'rotation' of the driver seat. Under Flavio Briatore's leadership, the Enstone-based outfit is employing an unconventional driver strategy, and they can even use another driver to come into the team before the end of the season without breaking the FIA limit.
Alpine has a roster of six drivers within their F1 setup. Apart from Pierre Gasly, Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto, the French team also has Kush Maini, Ryo Hirakawa and Paul Aron on their books as test and reserve drivers.
James Vowles backs Franco Colapinto to shine at Alpine
Williams' boss James Vowles has backed Franco Colapinto to thrive, despite the turbulent times at the French team. The Argentine driver is out on loan from the British team to the Enstone-based outfit.
When asked if Colapinto would be able to thrive under difficult circumstances on the French side, Vowles said, via Reuters:
"Is it in a turbulent time? Yes, no doubt about it. I actually think the learning is invaluable."
"Whether it's in that team or elsewhere, it's time on track and it's time in a difficult environment. And if you come out of it you'll only be stronger as a result, and Franco is stronger so I think it's still the right place for him to be at this stage," he added.
Colapinto raced under Vowles for nine races in the 2024 F1 season, as the youngster impressed many fans who did not know much about him before. Williams allowed the 21-year-old to join Alpine on a multi-year loan deal at the start of the 2025 season, with the vision that he would receive race experience at the French team before returning to Grove.
