Alpine’s Jack Doohan endured a terrifying crash early in second practice at Suzuka, flying off the road at Turn 1 into the tyre barriers.

The Australian was embarking on a second flying lap early in the second practice session, when he lost control of his car with some high-speed oversteer and shot off into the tyre barriers.

Jack Doohan ‘will learn from’ hefty Japanese GP crash

Doohan had approached Turn 1 at top speed, hitting over 330km/h just before swooping in for the apex. But the rear of his Alpine refused to stay planted and came around on him.

Now reduced to a mere passenger, Doohan kept his hands on the wheel as his car shot across the gravel in the escape area and impacted the tyre barriers. His fresh Pirelli tyres were torn down to the canvas as he slid across the tarmac and gravel; such was the speed of the abrasion.

The huge impact destroyed the left-hand side of his A525 and was enough to shock Doohan into remaining in his car for several minutes.

With the FIA’s medical and extrication teams tending to Doohan, the Australian was able to clamber out of the car with assistance and limped gingerly away, clearly shaken by the incident. He was brought back to the paddock for precautionary checks and has been given the all-clear. There are no doubts regarding his ongoing participation over the remainder of the race weekend.

Aside from the nature of the crash itself and the resulting effect on his preparations for the weekend, the crash couldn’t come at a worse time for Doohan – who is attempting to impress his Alpine bosses in a bid to ensure that he won’t be replaced by the team’s newly-signed reserve driver Franco Colapinto after the Argentinean’s strong start to life in F1 last season.

The frightening incident lands his Alpine team with a hefty repair job, but the main focus in the aftermath was on understanding why Doohan lost control in such dramatic fashion.

While markings on the road suggested bottoming out may have been the cause, the incident appears to have been caused by Doohan’s use of the DRS.

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Turn 1 at Suzuka is a flat-out swoop right, leading into a tightening right-hander. The initial turn-in doesn’t require any outright braking, but drivers shed speed through the apex through a lift before applying the brakes for the demand of Turn 2.

Thus, this means that the drivers turn in for Turn 1 with the potential for the DRS to still be open – a corner that requires downforce, but with the cars still in an aerodynamic mode optimised for a long straight. This has been seen before in F1, such as at Silverstone’s Turn 1 in 2018 when the addition of a new DRS zone opened up the theoretical possibility of negotiating the first two corners with the DRS open.

To de-activate the DRS and return the downforce to the rear wing, drivers have to back off by lifting off the throttle or by braking – or use a manual button to deactivate DRS. This was the option chosen by most, with an example being Max Verstappen clearly pressing a button on his steering wheel to deactivate before turning into Turn 1.

The incident appears to have been triggered by Doohan keeping his DRS wide open through the first corner, relying on a tap of the brakes – a move to reattach the rear wing downforce rather than actually seeking any braking effect – rather than a conscientious decision to press a button.

The telemetry of the lap prior to his crash shows Doohan tapped the brakes while keeping his foot planted on the throttle, seemingly with the intention of deactivating DRS. However, the rear wing actually remained open – but Doohan’s car remained planted.

On the lap of his crash, his tap of the brakes again wasn’t sufficient to deactivate DRS. Unlike the previous lap, this time, the A525 didn’t remain planted with its DRS wide open – and Doohan became a passenger.

The telemetry from Pierre Gasly’s car, the other Alpine, shows a much more binary approach to Turn 1, with no brake tap. His DRS deactivates as his speed begins to dip, suggesting a full button-press approach from the French driver.

In the team’s post-session press release, team boss Oli Oakes revealed the cause of the incident as being down to Doohan’s control of the DRS.

“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,” Oakes said.

“It was a misjudgment 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.”

With the Australian attending the team’s post-session debrief to discuss the incident and contribute as usual to the pursuit of laptime, he thanked his team for the effort of rebuilding his demolished car.

“First of all, I am OK after the incident,” Doohan said.

“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 tomorrow, so thanks in advance to them for their efforts.

“My focus is on tomorrow where we will have Free Practice 3 to get ready for Qualifying.”

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