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New angle of doohan’s HUGE crash | 00:10
Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes has revealed human error was to blame for Jack Doohan’s high-speed crash during Practice 2 at the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday.
The 22-year-old rookie lost his rear at Turn 1 at Suzuka Circuit and went flying into the barriers at 331km/h. He thankfully walked away from the incident having avoided serious injury, with the session suspended for more than 20 minutes as stewards repaired the barriers.
New footage of the crash, captured by a spectator in the stands, shows Doohan losing control of the car and spinning twice before hitting the barrier.
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“It was a heavy one, something that caught me by surprise, and I will learn from it,” Doohan later said.
“I know the team has a lot of work ahead to repair the car going into tomorrow, so thanks in advance to them for their efforts. My focus is on tomorrow where we will have free practice three to get ready for qualifying.”
Replays of the incident showed that Doohan’s rear wing was open as he entered the corner, although it was initially unclear whether the Australian had forgotten to close it or the device had failed.
The DRS overtaking device is deactivated when a driver hits the brakes, so the rear wing needs to be manually closed with a button on the steering wheel when turning into the flat-out section.
Oakes has since confirmed Doohan neglected to close his DRS mechanism in a “misjudgement”, with the aerodynamical imbalance causing the car to spin.
“We are all relieved to see Jack walk away from his incident in free practice two and glad to see he is OK after his precautionary checks,” Oakes said.
“It was a misjudgement of not closing the DRS into Turn 1. It is something to learn from and I know Jack and the team will be ready for tomorrow. His crew will work hard to have the car prepared after the damage.”
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Because Doohan had ceded his spot to Alpine test driver Ryo Hirakawa during Practice 1, he will only have four laps under his belt ahead of Saturday’s action.
The Japanese Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday at 3pm AEDT.
