Doohan eyes down challenging Sprint from P16

Bowing out in the first round of Sprint Qualifying by a slim margin of 36 milliseconds, a disappointed but “pleased” Jack Doohan says today’s Sprint is all about learning, before shifting his focus to a full reset this afternoon.

The young Australian’s Chinese Grand Prix campaign didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts after a “technical issue” brought Doohan’s FP1 session to an early end, however, the Alpine crew’s hard work in between sessions meant there was no impact at the start of Sprint Quali.

“Fortunately, I completed the majority of our run plan in Free Practice 1 before the issue on track,” the #7 said.

“It was important to get up to speed at this track in F1 machinery, especially with the new track surface, which provided plenty of grip. 

“The car felt good across the day so we will look into the data and see what we can improve tomorrow in Qualifying and hopefully put ourselves in a much better position for the Grand Prix.”

Setting a lap early in the 12-minute opener, Doohan was instantly on high alert as he sat as the driver at risk in fifteenth. 

Across the board, he improved on his second medium tyre run, promoting his A525 into P8, however, as an early starter, he was out of sequence with the bulk of the pack, and as a result, slipped down the order.

When it came time for his and his teammate’s last-ditch attempts at a very possible place in SQ2, luck wasn’t on Alpine’s side.

Lapping the circuit, Doohan was faced with a traffic paradise and lost crucial time weaving through his slow-moving competitors on the dash to the line. 

As a result, the Australian failed to make any of the necessary improvements, condemning him to start his first-ever Formula 1 Sprint from P16 on the grid. 

“It was clearly not the result we wanted today but I am pleased with how the car felt,” Doohan said.

“In the end, a combination of factors fed into the frustrating outcome in Sprint Qualifying, particularly traffic on track during the push lap.

“We will keep our heads down and aim to maximise what we can from the Sprint Race in the morning.”

On a more positive note, the #7 did manage to out-qualify his more experienced teammate in Shanghai, with his fastest qualifying time of 1:32.575s being 0.065s quicker than Pierre Gasly.

Lights out for Doohan’s first 100km F1 challenge will take place at 14:00 AEDT before a welcomed reset with Grand Prix Qualifying at 18:00 AEDT.

Image: BWT Alpine F1 Team // Andy Hone/LAT Images

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