Jack Doohan has followed in the footsteps of Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, turning his Instagram profile black after suffering vile social media abuse. The Australian racer, who was axed by Alpine just six rounds into the 2025 F1 season, has been suffering through a tumultuous Super Formula test in Japan.
The 22-year-old was sidelined for Franco Colapinto after a pointless run through the first six races of the season, with the condition that he could return to the cockpit later in the year. However, despite his successor failing to score himself, Flavio Briatore opted against changing Alpine’s driver line-up for a second time.
With his Alpine career seemingly over, the Gold Coast-born driver has been searching for a route back onto the grid. Doohan is understood to be pursuing a Haas reserve role for 2026 and beyond, while also looking for a new full-time seat.
That search led him to Super Formula, the Japanese open-wheel series, which was won by Racing Bulls reserve driver Ayumu Iwasa in 2025. However, after putting together a last-minute test with the Toyota-powered Kondo Racing squad, Doohan’s opportunity turned into a disaster.
He crashed three times in three days at the same Degner Curve corner, attracting widespread attention on social media. On his Instagram account, Doohan received some abuse from a small subset of Colapinto’s fanbase, who piled on to the Australian racer. In response, Doohan turned his Instagram profile picture black and disabled comments on his most recent posts.
While Doohan’s inclusion in the test was eye-catching, most of the attention heading into the pre-season Super Formula outing was on two-time World Rally champion Kalle Rovenpera, who is taking the first steps of his single-seater journey after making the unexpected switch.
However, the rapid Finn was forced to back out of the test after suffering from balance and vision issues during the first part of the opening day’s track action. After a medical assessment, he was diagnosed with BPPV (Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo), and forced to take a period off to rest and recover.
“During midday break, I got symptoms of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo, which affects balance and vision through the inner ear,” Rovanpera explained to his supporters on social media.
“I got banned from the doctor to drive this week. Really disappointed as we didn’t have a chance to do any proper driving other than our aero test this morning. Bad luck to have this in our first outing. Now it’s time to heal up, and I can only wait for the next time.”