Jack Doohan, the promising but under-pressure Alpine driver, encountered a turbulent experience at the Japanese Grand Prix. On Friday, his performance took a severe hit when he broke his car in half during a high-impact crash. By Saturday, his qualifying efforts culminated in a disappointing 19th place, highlighting the challenges he continues to face on the track.
The weekend began with a dramatic incident when Doohan’s car failed to close its DRS at turn 1, resulting in a massive shunt. The crash left observers questioning whether it was due to driver error or a mechanical fault, as telemetry data offered little clarity. As the qualifying session unfolded, Doohan struggled to register a competitive lap time, falling short by over six-tenths of a second compared to his teammate, Pierre Gasly.
While Gasly made impressive strides, advancing to Q2 with a P11 finish, Doohan’s performance didn’t mirror his teammate’s success. Reflecting on the difficult day, Doohan admitted the challenges he faced: “To be honest, yesterday I was quite in a good way and just a rebuilding over P3, taking it easy, but as well we only got three laps then with both red flags, so not much time to also tune the car and also myself.”
He further expressed his struggles, “It’s just unfortunate that I have to obviously then take such big steps to get back to it as it’s a place around here similar to a street track where P1, P2, P3 you keep taking steps forward and you build up your stones and then you start from there and I was sort of having to jump a bit more.”
Despite the setback, Doohan remained resolute, commenting, “In the end of Q1, I think the potential maybe of Q2 was on the cars, which would have been, to be honest, a great effort.” He added, “I had to just take obviously big steps forward and my final lap I just asked a bit too much through Turn 14, I was going to run wide so I had to get out of it.”
With Franco Colapinto waiting in reserve, the pressure on Doohan to succeed is immense. Signed with a substantial buyout from Williams, Colapinto is not expected to remain as a mere reserve for long, adding urgency to Doohan’s need for improvement.
Amidst the pressure and disappointment, Doohan still seeks positives from his experience: “But I’m happy with the step we made from P3 to Q because although on the timesheets I looked 14th, I was definitely probably best making 20th. So I think there were some small improvements which we have to be happy about.”
Looking ahead, Doohan remains focused on advancement, stating, “We really can only move forward and we’re just looking to learn as well if it’s in the wet, to learn as much as I can in the wet, but also maximize any possibilities or circumstances where we can get further up the grid.”
