Jack Doohan’s “driving has been one of desperation” as he tries to stop Alpine from wielding the axe on his F1 career.

That is the theory put forward by Jacques Villeneuve, who believes the Aussie is driving in a “not natural” manner after suffering a 180mph-crash in the second practice session ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, one which he thankfully walked away from unhurt.

Jack Doohan at Alpine: Exit speculation connected to Suzuka shunt?

F1 2025 rookie Doohan had not even got his first season with Alpine underway before talk bubbled up about an impending departure, rumours fuelled by Alpine’s move to bring in Argentine Franco Colapinto as a reserve after he burst one to the scene with Williams in 2024.

The Japanese GP marks Doohan’s third race weekend of F1 2025 in the Alpine seat, but it has begun on a concerning note, Doohan having spun out at Turn 1 at great speed early in FP2. That was after he had sat out the morning session to give Ryo Hirakawa his rookie FP1 session.

And 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve – serving as a Sky F1 pundit for the race weekend at Suzuka – would analyse that scary crash for Doohan which he thankfully was not hurt in.

Asked if Doohan’s car had potentially been bottoming out going into that high-speed opening turn, Villeneuve said: “Well, bottoming out, that happens to every car, but you can tell that he was very, very aggressive when he turned in.

“He didn’t have the laps this morning. So he went in with a lot of confidence, but with the tail wind, maybe his tyres weren’t ready. He’s on the hard tyres and he got caught out, because the car pivoted so quickly, and he actually threw the car in. He didn’t massage the car into the corner.

“It looks aggressive, it looks just a tiny beat too much. It would have been okay on normal conditions with the tyres really warm, no tail wind.

“But the team with the data might see that maybe the suspension failed. That’s something we cannot really see now, but it looked very aggressive, and the way it pivoted right away was very surprising.”

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Doohan has already seen a mid-season axe take place, with Liam Lawson over at Red Bull sent back to Racing Bulls after just two, underwhelming race weekends in the RB21.

But rather than something like this potentially spooking Doohan, Villeneuve argues Doohan has long been aware of this situation, and it is showing in his driving.

“But the problem is, he’s known before the first race that he probably would not finish this season,” said Villeneuve. “He’s been put under tremendous pressure by Flavio [Briatore, Alpine advisor] mainly, with Colapinto there in the wing, and the writing was on the wall.

“And his driving has been one of desperation, having to prove that he’s at least better than [Pierre] Gasly, so they should keep him.

“When he’s already been told that, ‘Look, you do a few races, but then you’ll probably be replaced’, and you can see it in his driving. It’s not comfortable. It’s really not comfortable.

“And when the driver is in that situation, even, psychologically, the driving will not be natural and small mistakes will start happening.”

Gasly and Doohan are still searching for a first point of F1 2025, with Alpine the only team yet to get off the mark.

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