Alpine boss, Oliver Oakes admits regret at extra pressure exerted on Jack Doohan following Franco Colapinto move.

Barely had their cars come to rest than critics of Isack Hadjar, Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson were seizing the moment to hit out at their respective teams insisting that that they be dropped in favour of Franco Colapinto, Daniel Ricciardo, etc.

In Doohan's case it was the worst possible scenario for ever since Alpine announced that it had signed the Argentine driver, the Australian's days have appeared numbered, a situation not helped by Flavio Briatore's sh*t-stirring and the reluctance of the team to clarify the situation.

At his home race, even the local media appeared to turn on Doohan, though the youngster gamely fought his corner.

On track he performed well all weekend, until that moment he was caught out, in much the same way as veteran Carlos Sainz.

However, in the eyes of the jackals infesting social media and sections of the unsocial media, the case was proven.

Speaking in the aftermath, Oakes was quick to praise Doohan, admitting that the team had let him down.

"I think it's fair to say we've caused a lot of the noise," he told reporters. "I think that we haven't put him in the best position.

"Flip it the other way," he continued, "we've got a duty as a team to perform. There's 900 people who depend on us to make the right choice for the team.

"But I feel for him because, at the end of the day, probably all that noise was brought on from what we did.

"Out of six rookies, was it two who finished?" said the Briton. "So he's not the only one.

"Also it wasn't like a mistake," he insisted. "Obviously it's one you don't want to happen but it wasn't through a racing incident or doing something silly. He was just genuinely caught out, and he wasn't the only one."

Oakes is determined to turn the situation around and stop knocking Doohan's confidence.

"From my side, it's pretty much give him a hug and say 'come on mate, let's go into next weekend'. He's had a brilliant weekend and, actually, you want to keep that momentum.

"And for us in the team, it's been really nice," he added. "The dynamic of him and Pierre working with the engineers, it's been good to see, we didn't have that for a while."

Asked about how Doohan dealt with a persistent media this weekend, Oakes said: "He didn't need that reassurance for me because I think he knows as well how F1 is: you've got to perform.

"He is just a tough kid as well," he added. "You can see that nothing seems to faze him. How he came out the car today after that crash, part of me goes 'he wanted to be more upset', but obviously he knows.

"He's annoyed for the boys in the garage but also, by the same token, he knows he's just got to get on with it next weekend."

It's worth recalling the F1 race debut of young driver some time back.

His first laps ended in countless spins as he over-pushed his car, seeking its limits. As it happens he finished his debut race eleventh, but was dropped by his team shortly after having never made another appearance, the team boss admitting that the youngster was "looking as though he might be a bit expensive".

Had social media existed at that time there is absolutely no doubt that the demand to drop him would have been overwhelming, as fans sought to have their favourite hot-shot given the seat while the media played along.

Shortly after, he was snapped up by another team, whose founder said the 'erratic', little youngster reminded him of Tazio Nuvolari.

Despite those early 'mistakes', that driver went on to become one of the true legends of the sport. For fans of a certain vintage there is no need to name him.

Check out our Sunday gallery from Albert Park here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by flyinglap, 3 hours ago

"@ Editor: I fully agree with you re Doohan etc. And being of a "certain vintage" myself, I suppose you are indeed referring to the late Gilles Villeneuve's debut with McLaren (pre Ron Dennis) dropping him after the British GP, and with Enzo Ferrari in person deciding instead to take on the young Canadian. And the rest is history... One the other hand, Flavio Briatore is now understandably looking to repeat his glorious Schumacher coup with one Franco Colapinto. Who can blame him? We are only too happy to watch this new F1 season. Cheers!"

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Oakes regrets Doohan 'noise'

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