Jack Doohan was seen struggling to clamber out of his Alpine at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix, a race in which he “pushed like a dog”.

The Australian driver went through a nightmare weekend in Japan, as his event preparation was compromised by missing practice and a heavy crash.

Jack Doohan struggles to climb out of Alpine A525 after chequered flag

Having missed all but a handful of laps on Friday as Alpine handed his car over to Ryo Hirakawa for the first session of the weekend before Doohan crashed early in FP2, the Australian was up against it for the remainder of the weekend.

Starting the race from 19th on the grid, using the soft tyre, he finished 15th in what proved to be a processional race with no incidents or yellow flags to help provide opportunities for further moves forward.

Running a longer stint on the hard tyre, Doohan had to go defensive as he held back Nico Hulkenberg, but the effort appeared to have overcome him as Doohan returned to the pits.

Onboard camera footage showed the Australian struggling to climb out of his Alpine, requiring assistance from parc ferme marshals to eventually get out of the car, before hobbling off with Esteban Ocon of Haas offering some support to Doohan.

Having been taken for precautionary checks following his huge impact on Friday afternoon, checks which he passed, some unfounded speculation had suggested Doohan may have been in more pain from the crash than he was willing to let on – the suggested logic being that Doohan can’t afford to miss a single opportunity in the car as he bids to impress and stave off the possibility of reserve driver Franco Colapinto being given his seat.

With Doohan requiring assistance to climb out of his car following the race, this suggested that he could have struggled to pass an FIA extraction test, with the rules dictating that drivers must be able to clamber out from a seated position, with seatbelts fastened and in usual driver equipment, within seven seconds.

However, the understanding is that Doohan’s struggles were merely due to soreness and tiredness from a difficult weekend catching up with him, with no concerns that Doohan would not have passed an FIA extraction test.

It’s also understood that Doohan was using his own spare race seat and not using a seat belonging to another driver, which some speculation had suggested could have exacerbated his discomfort.

The events of the weekend catching up with Doohan could have been down to the aggressive strategy he employed during Sunday’s race, as he explained afterward that he had “pushed like a dog” throughout.

“The strategy was aggressive,” he explained to the media in Japan.

“It gave us the best opportunity to move forward, however, I don’t think it was the best strategy for overall race time.

“We were able to execute the undercut, which was great; however, with 25 laps to go, we were in a bit of a tricky situation when it came to tyre life because I pushed like a dog from coming out of the box.”

In his efforts to hold off Williams’ Carlos Sainz, a battle he eventually lost, he said, “I had a good experience from that after China, so it wasn’t anything new to me of being harassed for the last 25 laps.

“It’s just all good experience for me as well, good learning.

“I wasn’t able to keep Carlos behind on the new soft tyre, which was a bit of a bummer, but all in all, to keep Hulk (Nico Hulkenberg), (Liam) Lawson, I think (Esteban) Ocon… I think those are the three cars that I undercut.

“We have to be content with that.”

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Franco Colapinto tests for Alpine at Monza

On the same day as the Japanese Grand Prix, Alpine took along an older 2023 A523 to the Monza circuit in Italy, where Colapinto was set loose in the two-year-old car. This followed on from Alpine fielding another reserve, Paul Aron, on Saturday at the same venue.

Such TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) outings are a way for F1 teams to help give track time to promising drivers, or a way for drivers to stay sharp, given the lack of testing opportunities in current machinery.

Since the start of the season, Doohan has raced with the pressure of needing to perform to hold onto his seat, with his seat only guaranteed to “start the season”.

Team advisor Flavio Briatore has remained silent on the subject of Doohan’s career beyond the opening races of the season and said, “I try to make sure the team has the best possible drivers. If it’s Colapinto, Jack, Paul [Aron], I don’t care.

“I’m not a killer, I just want to have the best drivers possible.

“I’ve been representing Fernando Alonso for 23 years, which shows that I support drivers who give me what I ask for.”

With Alpine signing promising Argentinian driver Franco Colapinto on a long-term deal, the 21-year-old appears to be the leading talent lining up behind the race driver line-up of Doohan and Pierre Gasly.

Briatore has spoken about his excitement over Colapinto’s potential, saying “We fought to have Franco in the team and he is one of the most important assets for us.

“We have to be patient, because he is very young, but I believe in talent.

“When you have talent and you manage it well, you succeed.

“I see Franco, he is naturally fast and this year he will be a test driver and he already works a lot in the simulator.”

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