By Matt Majendie
MIAMI (Reuters) – Jack Doohan has welcomed boss Flavio Briatore’s no-nonsense approach amid rumours Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix could be his last for the Alpine Formula One team.
Even prior to the opening race of the season, his home grand prix, the Australian has been dogged by reports he was set to be replaced by reserve driver Franco Colapinto.
It has been rumoured Doohan could be axed by the Renault-owned team after Miami, with Briatore set to bring in the Argentine to replace him for the rest of the season.
Despite that Doohan defended the team’s executive advisor Briatore as “someone that I’ve looked up to for a very, very long time.
“I love the brutal and very to the point way. There’s no BS. There’s no mucking around. You find out what’s going on very, very quickly. I prefer that much more than the Chinese whispers,” he added.
“He’s just wanting me to do well and the best will happen, and forget about the noise, forget about what’s going on, just do the best that I possibly can.”
Doohan has yet to finish in the points this season, his best placing 13th in China helped by three race disqualifications including teammate Pierre Gasly.
He also crashed heavily in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix but, despite some criticism and rumours over his future, the 22-year-old said he was quick to shut out any background noise.
“The worst of it was in January pre-season when there was the most noise, nothing else going on,” he said.
“That was the talk of the town. But I think there was a new narrative each weekend and very quickly I knew what was irrelevant and what wasn’t true and just focused on my job.
“I don’t take anything personally. I just think this is our sport. This is how it is for my time right now. And for sure I’ll benefit from it more than anything else.
“So I think it was just keeping my head down and doing my job and knowing what’s real and what’s not.
“And to be honest, on top of everything, and even in the difficult times, I didn’t really ever feel affected by it. I had a good group of people around me, the team were also very supportive.”
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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