Alpine driver Jack Doohan is happy with the progress he made in the F1 Chinese GP. He bounced back after crashing out from his home race at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
While his A525 car lacked pace in general, he was satisfied with the solid speed his machine had during the race.
The first positive
Speaking in the print media zone after the race, Doohan said finishing the Chinese GP was his “first positive” after crashing out in Melbourne.
“Yeah, exactly [it was a good learning exercise]. 56 more laps than we got in Oz, so that’s a first positive.
“I think we’re lacking a bit of pace in general, but to pick up four spots, head forward, to keep the VCARB [Racing Bulls] behind for, you know, 20-odd laps a car, that was a Q3 car, they had solid pace, so I think we have to be quite happy with that.”
Doohan was penalised in the Sprint race and the Grand Prix, where he pushed Isack Hadjar off the track. He currently has 4 penalty points to his name. Should he reach 12 this year, he could face a one-race ban.
“I’m going to have to revisit it because I don’t want to be getting penalties on a regular basis and giving away two places like that. No points for 14th or 16th, however, it definitely just feels a bit better. But yeah, I think we’ve just got to keep our heads down for Japan.”
Jack Doohan pleased with pace and how close he is to Pierre Gasly
Doohan said he enjoyed the hard stint as he able to make gains on the cars in front, such as Carlos Sainz, during the F1 Chinese GP.
“It was nice on that hard stint, we were able to close up to the group in front quite quickly.”
The 22-year-old was close on pace with teammate Pierre Gasly throughout the weekend as the pair were never separated my much. Heroic defending against Isack Hadjar saw the gap end up at 10s between them before the Aussie’s penalty was applied. Gasly was ultimately disqualified.
He also had Alex Albon, Lance Stroll, Ollie Bearman and Yuki Tsunoda pass him at various stage on much fresher boots, and that costs a driver race time.
“When Alex [Albon] came out after his pit stop and you have the cars coming past on fresh tyres, you lose on average about two seconds when you get overtaken by those cars, so that just was hurting the tyres, plus falling back a bit from Pierre [Gasly].
“On average we’re quite similar, I think, especially on one-lap pace, plus or minus a tenth depending on the session. So there’s a lot of positives to take forward.
“I just have to refresh myself, fill in the driver guidelines, so I stop having any issues.”
Tyre talk
Speaking of tyre degredation, Doohan recounted a conversation during the Chinese GP drivers’ parade. He claimed to be surprised when the one-stop strategy became the fastest strategy option.
“I think we were having a chat on the drivers’ parade, and even for qualifying, guys doing fast laps, guys doing slow laps. And Lewis [Hamilton] was even saying that, he saw Lando [Norris] was doing a flying out lap, so he tried to follow and it was terrible for him.
“It’s really about honing in on your machine and understanding what works for your car.
“And then today, another plot twist of a one-stop. On everyone’s metrics, that was, at least ten plus seconds slower, and it ended up being the fastest package.”
The expectation for Suzuka
The Japanese Grand Prix takes place at the Suzuka International Racing Course. Doohan last drove in Suzuka in 2019 during his Asian F3 Championship campaign, where he took the win twice.
“[It’s going to be] new [driving] in an F1 car, I won’t try and hide it, I raced there as well in the Asian F3 in 2019, can’t really remember it so much, no worries.
“I won’t try to act like I haven’t been there before. I’m really looking forward to that one, it’s going to be great, I’m sure. Just the food, the culture, the circuit, I love all of it, so I can’t wait.”
The verdict on the progress
Doohan said there has been a “lot of positives” to take from the F1 Chinese GP weekend, although the results were not quite there yet.
“I think for me there’s a lot of positives. We haven’t had that result quite yet to really show it, but the inner circle understands that, and I think that’s what’s most important.
“The guys are super happy on the team, for sure. Flavio [Briatore], Oli [Oakes], Luca [de Meo], our backers, they’re going to be wanting points.”
“So when the car’s going to get there, we’re going to have to make sure that we’re on it to ensure that we can maximise that. But for now we’re going to have to keep working, keep our heads down, and hopefully Suzuka is a better track for us.”
