Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes has praised Jack Doohan despite the rookie’s first lap crash at the season-opening grand prix in Melbourne, but reiterated the Australian must perform in order to retain his seat.
Doohan was one of three drivers to fall foul of the wet surface in the early stages after a day of heavy rain, marking a disappointing end to a weekend where he showed promise in qualifying 14th.
It was the 22-year-old’s second Formula One race after debuting at the end of last season but he is already under pressure from Alpine’s reserve drivers, including highly-rated Argentinian Franco Colapinto who was signed in the off-season.
Oakes said Doohan’s laps in Melbourne were “as quick as his team-mate [Pierre Gasly] if not slightly faster” but he needs to continue to deliver despite the pressure he is under.
“I feel for him, because at the end of the day, probably all that noise was brought on from what we did,” Oakes said.
“By the same token, if you’re good and you can handle it, you deserve to be in F1. You are one of 20 drivers here, and you have to perform no matter what’s thrown at you.”
Doohan said his crash came when his car slipped out from under him while he was shifting up from third gear.
“As I went into fourth [gear] I lost the car, so [there are] some things that I’m going to need to understand, because for me, that wasn’t out of the normal,” Doohan said, speculating that he may have lost grip on one of the white lines on the fast street circuit.
“It’s a constant learning process, unfortunately this one has big consequences, but I’ve definitely learned, and I’m going to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Oakes said Doohan “had a really good weekend” until then and had otherwise dealt with the pressure.
“He’s had a lot slung at him for the past few weeks, and to come to this race – obviously there’s a lot of fan support for him, for him and Oscar [Piastri] to deal with all of that – throughout qualifying he just did a really good job.”
Despite Doohan’s early exit the Australian was not even the first driver to retire. Rookie Isack Hadjar spun his Racing Bulls car on the formation lap.
Under the yellow flag that followed Doohan’s accident, Williams veteran Carlos Sainz also found the wall, highlighting the treacherous nature of the conditions.
Doohan said he wasn’t looking for excuses.
“It’s my first shunt in one of these Formula One cars, I’m sure it won’t be the last, it’s a brutal way to have it, but it happens, we’re humans,” he said.
“I didn’t want it to happen, but it has. so I’ve accepted it, and I’m not really looking for excuses out there for other drivers or anything like that. I made this mistake, and I accept and I look forward to bouncing back.”
Speculation swirls around Doohan and the pressure he is under from Colapinto for his seat, and some reports suggests he may have as few as three races to prove his is worthy of his seat.
Oakes said he had spoken about the speculation with Doohan in the off-season.
“He didn’t need that reassurance from me, because I think he knows as well how F1 is, you’ve got to perform,” Oakes said.
“But I think [it was] more to just say to him, ‘look, you’ve got a hell of an opportunity here, just block [the speculation] out and get on with it’.”
Doohan said “you have to enjoy today, and look forward to tomorrow” and pledged to be back racing in Melbourne.
“Each time I get to hop into these machines – I think we all are [thinking] – it’s a privilege, and I look forward to many more homegrown grand prix.”
Of the six rookies, only Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Haas’ Oliver Bearman finished the race, won by Lando Norris in the McLaren.
