Jack Doohan has made a plea for online trolls to stop harassing his family after a fake image circulated this week on social media.
Ahead of the most recent F1 race in Imola, Doohan was dropped by Alpine and replaced by Argentine star Franco Colapinto.
Colapinto had a tough Alpine debut, which featured a heavy crash during qualifying.
After that happened an image posted by F1 parody account ‘formulafakers’ went viral, appearing to be a screenshot of Doohan’s father Mick — the motor bike racing legend — sharing a still image on his Instagram story of Colapinto’s crash with laughing emojis and the caption “very impressive.”
The image had been faked, but it still was picked up as though it was real by numerous outlets, including in Colapinto’s home country.
Doohan posted to Instagram this week to clarify.
“As you can clearly see, the story circulating above is completely false,” he wrote alongside a screenshot of the fake post on his stories.
“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.”
“This type of content is so damaging,’ he added in another post.
Doohan then clarified the source of the parody image. “The source is not Argentine,” he posted. “However multiple Argentine outlets falsely reported the fabricated image which triggered the online abuse.”
Although he has remained at Alpine as reserve driver, Doohan’s F1 future remains uncertain.
The Australian was given just six races before being dropped. It had appeared as though Doohan might get a chance to return to Alpine later this year, with the team’s original Colapinto announcement saying he would be in the car for five races.
However, Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore denied the five-race stipulation — even though it came from a team press release quote attributed to him — and said Colapinto could “drive forever” if he does well in his early races with the team.
Alpine released a statement following Doohan’s posts.
“As an F1 team, we believe we are fortunate to be part of a global sport that evokes great passion and emotions, with an ever-growing community of fans who enthusiastically follow their favourite drivers’ every move, whether it be a brave overtake on track or what style they are sporting when they arrive in the paddock,” it read.
“We encourage everyone to remember that behind the visor of these superhuman athletes there is a person. An individual with feelings, family, friends and loved ones. As a team, we cannot condone online abuse and urge all fans of this sport we love, to be kind and respectful.”
