Jack Doohan walked away from a massive crash in Friday’s second free practice session at Suzuka Circuit. The Alpine star’s preparations for the Japanese Grand Prix took a sudden turn when he spun out at high speed and went slamming into the barriers, leaving the car completely wrecked.
Doohan was helped out of the cockpit before gingerly walking away from the scene with a member of medical staff on each arm. As is usually the case following a major accident, the Aussie was whisked away in a medical car and sent to the medical centre for precautionary checks.
Isack Hadjar was right behind Doohan when he saw him spin at high speed heading into turn one. The youngster said over the Racing Bulls team radio: “Woah, big crash. Big, big crash. Red flag. Oh my god.”
Doohan’s team were swiftly on the radio to check on their driver, who responded: “I’m okay, yeah. What happened?” They told him: “We’re just looking at everything on our side here.”
After undergoing routine medical examinations, the 22-year-old was spotted walking back to the hospitality suite, taking a drink and looking as if he had escaped any serious issues. That was confirmed by an Alpine statement, which read: “Following precautionary medical checks, we can confirm that Jack is ok. Now we’re working hard to get the car ready for tomorrow.”
Assessing the crash itself, Sky Sports pundit Anthony Davidson cleared Doohan of blame. “It didn’t look like he dipped the left-rear wheel [into the grass],” he said. “That did let go incredibly quickly, I would not have expected that.” Commentator David Croft added: “I don’t know about you but I’m not seeing driver error.”
The shunt came at an unfortunate time for Doohan, who is under pressure to produce results early in his Alpine career. Rumours suggest he could be replaced by reserve driver Franco Colapinto after just six races if the team feel their interests would be best served by making the switch.
Doohan was one of six non-finishers at the Australian Grand Prix, and he was outside the points at the Chinese Grand Prix the following weekend. The youngster is one of only six drivers not to have scored a point thus far, although Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly is also among them.
A chaotic FP2 saw four red flags waved, with Doohan’s crash followed by Fernando Alonso finding himself on the gravel, before two grass fires temporarily stopped proceedings.
