For Jack Doohan, the nightmare continues at Suzuka

For once, Jack Doohan had a very difficult session at Suzuka. The Australian continues his tough introduction to the Japanese track, complicated by a near-absence of running on Friday. The rookie did not take part in Free Practice 1, where he lent his car, for an hour, at Ryo Hirakawa. For his debut on the Japanese track, Doohan made a mistake during the first minutes of Free Practice 2, destroying his Alpine at the first bend in a shock of rare violence at more than 240 km/h.

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The mechanics of the A fléché were busy during the evening to repair a car of which only the engine could be saved: for the rest, it is a Alpine brand new car that took part in Free Practice 3. The Gold Coast native was able to drive and get his bearings, but he clearly lacked confidence and experience on the circuit when it came to qualifying. This showed on the clock and Doohan went out in Q1 with the 19th fastest time.

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Doohan made another mistake in Q1

Another difficult performance that will not help him gain confidence after a difficult start to the season. “Thanks to the team for all the hard work they put in overnight to get the car ready for today. It took a big effort, so I'm very grateful.” greets Jack Doohan. Going into the third free practice session, we started with a bit of a disadvantage compared to yesterday, which meant we had to make big improvements every time we went out on track. The car felt pretty good, but we're still struggling a bit with stability, which is something we need to analyze. Maybe Q2 was possible given the speed we had. However, I made a small mistake coming out of Spoon on my last lap: the car understeered a bit and I had to ease off, which cost us time on the whole straight that followed. The weather forecast is mixed for tomorrow, which could give us an opportunity to get back in the race. We didn't run in wet conditions this weekend, but it will be the same for everyone, and we will try to move forward from our current starting position, regardless of the conditions."

In Australia, Jack Doohan competed in his first and only race in the rain, which ended on the first lap following an excursion in conditions that trapped several other drivers including Hadjar, Alonso or Lawson. It's up to him to do better. Japan, while its place is more threatened than ever.