The swap was a controversial one and was even protested by the Australian’s father, Mick Doohan, who posted his son’s results along with those of team-mate Pierre Gasly to his Instagram story, sending a clear message to the Alpine leadership.

Kimi Antonelli, who at 18 years old became F1’s youngest pole winner in history when he started first in Saturday’s sprint race, qualified third for Mercedes. It is the first time he qualified higher than teammate George Russell, who was fifth behind current F1 points leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren.

The win marks Piastri's fourth of the season after he picked up wins at the Heineken Chinese Grand Prix in March and the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix and SRC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in April. The 24-year-old Australian has now doubled his win total from a year ago.