During the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix practice, Jack Doohan’s crash stunned the audience.
- The Alpine driver was unharmed despite the severe crash, which involved a DRS oversight.
- Doohan’s rear wing was left open, causing an aerodynamic imbalance as he sped into Turn 1.
- The Alpine team is working hard to repair the car for the next practice session.
- Pierre Gasly and Ryo Hirakawa provided some hope for Alpine with their consistent performances.
In the world of Formula 1, anything can happen – and Jack Doohan learned this the hard way during the Japanese Grand Prix practice. During the early stages of the session, Doohan spun off at the high-octane Turn 1. The culprit? A misjudged DRS closure. The Aussie driver forgot to deactivate his DRS, leading to a dramatic spin that resulted in a harsh encounter with the barriers. Thankfully, though the crash looked intense, Doohan emerged unscathed from the accident.
This DRS mishap happened because Doohan entered Turn 1 without manually closing the DRS mechanism. His rear wing stayed wide open, creating a tricky aerodynamic imbalance as he hit the turn at high speed. Typically, DRS automatically shuts when brakes are applied, but since this wasn’t the case at this corner, it led to serious consequences. Despite the severity of the incident, Doohan was immediately checked at the medical center and was given a clean bill of health, which was a relief for everyone involved.
Team boss Oliver Oakes didn’t mince words, referring to it as a misjudgment that Doohan would surely learn from for future races. ‘We are relieved to see Jack walk away from his incident,’ Oakes stated. ‘It’s a learning opportunity, and Jack, together with the team, will be prepared for tomorrow. His crew is already hustling to get the car back in shape.’
Doohan’s statement mirrored his team leader’s sentiments. He acknowledged the crash caught him off guard, but he was thankful for his team’s efforts to have everything ready for the upcoming practices. With an optimistic eye on the future, Doohan has set his focus on the next practice sessions and subsequent qualifying rounds, despite only having four laps under his belt due to earlier sidelining in FP1.
Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly, Doohan’s teammate, gave a respectable performance in the second practice, putting Alpine in the competitive mix with Williams and Aston Martin. Test driver Ryo Hirakawa also ran a successful program in the morning session, giving Alpine a positive trajectory heading into the rest of the weekend. As Oakes said, ‘From a performance standpoint, there are areas for us to improve, but Pierre and Ryo’s run was encouraging for tomorrow,’ suggesting a cautiously optimistic outlook for the qualifying rounds.
Jack Doohan’s crash, a stark reminder of the fast-paced nature of F1, is a learning curve, with eyes set on recovery and improvement in upcoming sessions.
