Any chance Jack Doohan had of progressing through SQ1 in Miami was scuppered by an unusual two-car exit from the Alpine garages.

The Australian driver was given the signal to head out on track in the closing stages of the first part of Sprint Qualifying, only to have his exit comprised by the presence of his teammate’s car also peeling out.

Jack Doohan fumes on team radio

Doohan was knocked out in 17th place in SQ1, with the Alpine driver having failed to get in his second flying lap at the quickest point of the session.

Sitting in the garage awaiting his mechanics’ signal to head back out on track, Doohan drove out when the signal came but, with teammate Pierre Gasly being given the signal at the exact same time in the garage directly to Doohan’s right, the Australian driver wasn’t able to apply full steering lock due to the presence of Gasly’s car.

As a consequence, Doohan’s slightly later turn to join the pitlane saw him run out of room in the narrow confines of the Miami pitlane and he was forced to stop to avoid hitting the pit wall concrete kerbing.

Requiring his car pushed back in order to resume, several rival cars managed to get in between Gasly and Doohan and, when he finally got out on track, Doohan was unable to get around to the start/finish line fast enough to get in another flying lap.

The elimination saw Doohan take to the team radio to voice his unhappiness.

“Man, that’s not acceptable, that is not acceptable,” he angrily said.

“If you’re gonna send him [Gasly] after me, you have to make sure he’s ready or before me – I can’t turn out and then pull out because he’s going to run into me. And then you guys put me out of Q1, that’s a joke.”

Once his adrenaline had come down, Doohan spoke to the media and said he is aiming to move as far forward in what is sure to be a tough Sprint race, elaborating further on what he felt had been an operational error from Alpine.

“It all comes down to the last flying lap,” he said.

“I think we were playing good, the feeling was good, and I just ended up getting blocked on my way out of the pit lane, which was a mess up because it was from the other car.

“So then I wasn’t able to do the final timed lap, and that’s why they make the length of quali that long – you just do two laps and improve quite a lot on the second lap, and I ended up being the last car out there and didn’t get a chance to do a second timed lap.

“The first lap was really, really messy, just trying a few things different from practice, and still, it wasn’t too bad. I think there was a lot more time in the car for the second lap. I guess we’ll never know though.”

Jack Doohan given tentative green light for Imola

Doohan’s uncharacteristic frustration and anger may have been fuelled by some uncertainty over his future, with relentless speculation suggesting that an Alpine reserve driver – either Franco Colapinto or Paul Aron – may replace him in his seat after the first quarter of the season – that quarter coming to an end this weekend in Miami.

Colapinto has been hotly tipped since the pre-season to take over Doohan’s seat and, earlier this week, the CEO of one of the Argentinean’s primary sponsors ‘let slip’ on a news channel that his driver may be returning to F1 at the Imola weekend in two weeks.

Asked about this speculation in Friday’s team boss press conference, Alpine’s Oli Oakes failed to completely shut down the possibility as he left the door open for a possible change while tentatively suggesting Doohan will stay in the seat for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

“Yeah, as it is today, Jack is our driver along with Pierre,” he said.

“We’ve been pretty clear on that. We always evaluate, but yeah – today, that is the case.”

As for the ‘slip’ from the Argentinean sponsor, Oakes said, “I saw it, like everyone else. I think it was a sponsor from Argentina off-camera giving his view on Franco, when he’s going to be in the car.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of people in Argentina who’d like him in the car this Sunday. We’ve been pretty open as a team that that’s just noise. Jack needs to continue doing a good job. But it’s natural that there’s always speculation there.”

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