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Alpine faces Perez scenario: Jack Doohan already under heavy fire
- Ludo van Denderen
With the signing of Franco Colapinto, Alpine ensured that it has a third, potential Grand Prix driver within its ranks. Should it be necessary for some reason to replace Pierre Gasly or Jack Doohan during the long coming season, the Argentine will be ready. Both an advantage and a disadvantage for Alpine, though, is that the youngster did not come over from Williams alone. In his wake came a slew of Argentine fans, some of whom are asserting themselves online in a not-so-nice way.
Hundreds of thousands of new followers did Alpine welcome on its social media channels after it was announced that Colapinto had been signed as a test and reserve driver. The South Americans are passionate about their young hero, sometimes a little too much so. Under Alpine's posts, there are now many thousands of comments from Colapinto fans, who regularly lash out at Jack Doohan - the driver they feel should make way for their hero.
This is sometimes done with a witticism, but also regularly with expletives against the Australian, who made his debut in Formula 1 at the end of last season in Abu Dhabi. For instance, comments can be read in which Argentine fans wish Doohan an accident so that Colapinto can then get in.
Red Bull knows Alpine's situation
Alpine has faced scenes similar to those Red Bull Racing had in the past with Sergio Perez. The Mexican was idolised by his fans, sometimes to the extreme. At times when doubts about his future with the Austrians arose, Red Bull got a hard time online from these people. Insults were then not unheard of.
It is something of the present time; finding it completely normal that real flesh and blood people can be insulted anonymously on social media and internet forums. It happened to Red Bull Racing, it happened (often by Dutch fans) to Lewis Hamilton and now Jack Doohan is another easy target.
The issue for Alpine is to get the Australian to shut himself off from all this online fuss, as he is unlikely to perform better if he cares too much about what is written. Then, these Colapinto fans would get their way.
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
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