Jack Doohan escaped unscathed after his Alpine car spun off the tarmac and crashed into a trackside barrier at unforgiving Suzuka, seven minutes into FP2 for the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday.
22-year-old Formula 1 rookie, Doohan, who had been [inexplicably] replaced by reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa for FP1, looked badly shaken as he was led away from his mangled car having asked his team "What happened?" over the radio.
Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes later expressed his relief that Doohan had been given the all-clear after precautionary medical checks and said the accident had been caused by leaving the DRS open during the first turn on the track.
Oakes said of Doohan's shunt: "We are all relieved to see Jack walk away from his incident in Free Practice 2 and glad to see he is OK after his precautionary checks. It was a misjudgement of not closing the DRS into Turn 1.
"It is something to learn from and I know Jack and the team will be ready for tomorrow. His crew will work hard to have the car prepared after the damage," added Oakes.
Jack: My focus is on Saturday to get ready for Qualifying
Doohan, the son of five-time MotoGP world champion Mick, crashed out of his first Grand Prix in Melbourne and finished 13th in the second race of the season in China.
He said he was already focusing on getting some time on the track in third practice and qualifying on Saturday -- once his car had been repaired: “First of all, I am OK after the incident. It was a heavy one, something that caught me by surprise, and I will learn from it.
"I know the team has a lot of work ahead to repair the car going into [Saturday], so thanks in advance to them for their efforts. My focus is on tomorrow where we will have FP3 to get ready for Qualifying," added Doohan.
The shunt adds pressure on Doohan, who has Alpine's reserve driver Argentine Franco Colapinto in the wings, signed from Williams to step in should the Australian rookie fail.
Latest News
Loading
