Formula 1 rookies slam Doohan saga as "unfair" and "horrible"

Doohan, who failed to score a point, has been replaced for at least the next five races by Argentine Colapinto, who had been tipped for the seat since his arrival as reserve in January following a nine-race stint with Williams last year.

Haas driver Bearman, who scored on his stand-in debut with Ferrari last year, said Doohan, 22, had to deal with extra pressure hanging over him from the start.

Bearman told reporters ahead of this weekend's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: "I can only imagine it's a horrible situation, and I feel like his treatment was very unfair. We've gone to four out of six tracks that have been new to us as rookies. We've had two sprint events which are even more difficult for us as rookies.

"Before he even gets to the European season where there are the tracks he knows, he's already thrown out of the car. So, yeah. Incredibly harsh. Imagine," added Bearman, of races with limited practice time available.

Doohan, son of motorcycle great Mick, remains on the Alpine driver roster and will be spending time in the simulator while Colapinto gets to grips with the car.

Racing Bulls' Hadjar, whose teammate Liam Lawson was promoted to the main Red Bull team and then demoted after just two races this year, agreed Doohan had been up against it from the start.

Hadjar did not mince his words: "Even before the season, it smelled a bit bad, because I think he entered the season with a lot of pressure, expectations. So, not a really good environment. And it feels quite unfair, because six races in, he didn't have much time to show anything, and it's not that he had a rocket ship as well.

"So, yeah, a bit harsh. I didn't have a gun to my head before starting the season. So that was definitely helpful. I can understand when you're Red Bull, you want to fight for the world championship, so this makes sense, maybe in the top team.

"But otherwise, if you want your rookie to have experience, then you need to give him races. Otherwise, he can't race," said the French rookie.

His Racing Bulls teammate, Lawson, agreed that Doohan deserved more of a chance: "It's very cut-throat," he said of the environment. "In his first season, I think he did enough for sure, even to be in Formula 1 in the first place. He deserves to come back. There are 20 seats, it's very tough."

Not only rookies smell a rat in the Doohan saga, motorsport veteran Juan Pablo Montoya also slammed the decision, calling it unacceptable