F1 driver given armed guards as he speaks out on horrific situation
A Formula One driver opened up about the death threats he received which marred his childhood dream.
Formula One star Jack Doohan revealed that he received horrific death threats that resulted in him being given armed guards for his protection. The Australian driver endured the tumultuous situation last season while racing for Alpine.
It was ahead of the Miami Grand Prix last May that the drama unfolded as the 23-year-old made the terrifying revelations on Netflix's F1 docu-series Drive to Survive. He opened up about the threats he received as he said: "I got serious death threats for this [Miami] Grand Prix, saying they're going to kill me here if I'm not out of the car.
"I had six or seven emails saying if I am still in the car by Miami, all my limbs will be cut off." The abuse didn't stop there as weeks after the race, Doohan took to social media to make a plea for online trolls to end their targeting of his family in an online campaign believed to have been driven by social media users from Argentina.
Doohan - who was dropped to a reserve role at Alpine after the Miami Grand Prix - was replaced by Franco Colapinto, who is from Argentina, having previously served as the team's test and reserve driver.
The online attacks against Doohan's family also included a Formula 1 parody account named 'formulafakers'.
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The account created a fake Instagram post which purported it to be from Doohan's father, former MotoGP world champion Mick, with a fake image showing Colapinto's crashed Alpine car and a caption which read: "Very impressive" alongside laughing emojis, which appeared to poke fun at the South American racer.
The post was mistakently reported as true by numerous Argentinian media outlets which led to a barrage of abuse directed towards Doohan and his family. It became so severe that Doohan was given armed protection and a police escort at the Miami race with his girlfriend, Ebony Zippora Gold, and his trainer.
"I was there with my f****g girlfriend and my trainer, and I've got three f****g armed men around me. I had to call my police escort to come and get it under control," he added. The pressure he was under meant he couldn't enjoy finally reaching the pinnacle of motorsport.
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He said: "I wasn't able to enjoy being a Formula 1 driver, something I dreamt of for so long. So yeah, it's pretty s***," Doohan said." Prior to his demotion, he failed to score a single point in the first six races of the season and eventually parted ways with Alpine last month. He's since made his return to F1 as earlier this month, he announced he's joined Haas as a reserve driver for the 2026 season.
