The F1 Japanese GP truly hasn’t gone according to plan so far for Alpine driver Jack Doohan. In fact, the Australian rookie driver had suffered an incredibly strong crash during yesterday’s FP2, his first on track session after sitting out FP1 in favour of Ryo Hirakawa. The matter strongly impacted his track time of the day, with extensive repairs undergoing on his A525.
He didn’t have better luck earlier today, as the young talent was able to complete only a few laps in FP3 because of the red flags.
Little improvements ahead
Nevertheless, the Alpine driver remained positive after qualifying, as he discussed his hardships after the end of his day.
His first run saw him quite close to Gasly in the times. However, a mistake at spoon on his last attempt meant he failed to improve, ending up almost 0.8s slower than his teammate.
“Not the easiest to bounce back in for P3. And yeah, obviously confidence, you take it, to be honest yesterday I was in quite a good way.
“Just 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.
“It’s just unfortunate that I had to obviously 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 sort of, you build up your stones and then you start from there.”
Potential for more
Doohan will start the F1 Japanese GP from P19, ahead of Lance Stroll. All in all he is already pleased with the fact he will actually have the opportunity to compete in the race, even though the lack of track time will definitely be a burden.
In spite of his difficulties, Doohan had still found quite a bit of pace by the end of the first qualifying segment, but ultimately a mistake on his final flying lap prevented him from trying to get close to the top 15.
“I was sort of having to jump a bit more. In the end of Q1, I think the potential maybe of Q2 was on the cards, which would have been, to be honest, a great effort. I had to just take obviously big steps forward. In 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.”
“If I didn’t do that, I’d still be here speaking with you now, but I had to give it a go. And unfortunately, I would have liked to have done that over FP2.”
A tough round for the rookie
The former Formula 2 driver also explained how tough it is to adapt to such a high speed track with so little practice, especially after only three Formula 1 races.
A lack of confidence in the high speed after missing so much running left him horribly on the back foot, and his massive shunt did not help.
“It’s more as well my confidence, but also on the fact that just getting the car to my liking as well through those high-speed corners, which can contribute to it. So I still think if I look back now, maybe I could have done a 1:28.5, 1:28.6, still a few tenths away from Pierre.
“I can probably guarantee you that’s a bit into turn two, maybe a bit all into these entries of the high-speed corners, which isn’t surprising, let’s say. But I’m happy with the step we made from FP3 to Q1, because although on the timesheets I looked 14th, that was definitely going to be P20. So, there was some small improvements, which we have to be happy about.”
Everyone was incredibly concerned for Doohan‘s health after he crashed at 330kmh at one of the fastest corners on the F1 calendar. Even more so, he had gingerly got out of the car after his monster shunt.
Luckily, Doohan has confirmed that he is physically fine, and that driving in the F1 Japanese GP won’t be an issue.
“Yeah, while I’m in the car it’s fine and I’m pushing through.”
Wet track: opportunity or disadvantage?
Final weather forecasts predict rain only a few hours ahead of tomorrow’s main event. While the Alpine driver will hope for better track conditions in order to try and move up the ranks, another wet session could be a learning experience for the F1 newcomer.
“Hopefully the weather can help us out a little bit. 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 maximise any possibilities or circumstances where we can get further up the grid,” he concluded, excited for a chance to prove his worth.
