Isack Hadjar has jumped to the defence of the recently demoted Jack Doohan, by stressing that unlike the Australian, he has not received a "gun to my head" this season.
It was announced by Alpine ahead of this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix that Franco Colapinto would replace Doohan for the next five races, ahead of a further evaluation.
Doohan's seat at the Enstone-based outfit had been a significant talking point since before the season even begun, with some having reported that he might not even race in Australia.
The 22-year-old battled questions on his future ahead of the six grands prix he entered this year, before Alpine made the call to promote Colapinto.
Hadjar has not been impressed by Alpine's treatment of Doohan, by noting that something appeared off before the campaign even started.
"Even before the season, it smelled a bit bad, because I think he entered the season with a lot of pressure, expectations," Hadjar told select media, including RacingNews365.
"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."
When put to him that Racing Bulls have been more supportive compared to Doohan at Alpine, Hadjar pointed out: "Yeah, I didn't have a gun to my head before starting the season.
"So that was definitely helpful. And I had good support here since day one. So yeah, it was definitely helping."
Despite Hadjar's criticism of Alpine, Red Bull was the first team to complete a driver change this season.
Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda swapped seats after two races, although Hadjar insists it was a different situation based on Red Bull's position.
"I mean, I can understand when you're Red Bull, you want to fight for the world championship," added Hadjar.
"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."
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