Jacques Villeneuve understands Doohan's crash: "His way of driving reflects despair"

It is a shock of rare violence. that Jack Doohan suffered in the first minutes of Free Practice 2 on Friday. The Australian crashed violently, losing control of his Alpine after attempting to take the first corner with the DRS open.

A rather unusual error, which testifies, according to Jacques Villeneuve, to the malaise of Jack Doohan, whose arrival in Formula 1 was not done in the most fulfilling environment possible. "The problem is that he already knew before the first race that he probably wouldn't finish the season, and he was under enormous pressure from Flavio [Briatore], with Colapinto waiting in the wings.", analyzes the 1997 world champion on Sky Sports.

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"Everything was written in advance, and his way of driving reflects desperation. He is trying to prove that he is better than gasly to keep him, even though we've already told him: "Listen, you do a few races," but then you'll probably be replaced. You can see it in his driving, he's not comfortable, really not comfortable, and when a driver is in that situation, even psychologically, driving is no longer natural and small mistakes start to appear."

For Jack Doohan, the weekend has been very complicated so far: before his accident in FP2, the Australian did not drive in Free Practice 1, leaving his drive to Ryo Hirakawa, the team's reserve driver. Not the best way to give him confidence on a track he is new to in F1. Finally, his Free Practice 3 session was not much better, with the 14th fastest time, 1 seconds off the reference time of Lando Norris, but also more than a second behind his teammate Pierre Gasly.

Jack Doohan's start has been rocky, and the question of his future is being asked: will he be around for long, while Franco Colapinto is champing at the bit? To give himself the best chance of continuing his F1 career, the Gold Coast native would be well advised to score his first points quickly.