Jack Doohan, Alpine’s Rookie, had to power through the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, after Pierre Gasly’s collision with Yuki Tsunoda. Even though Doohan had improved in the third Free Practice, he was eliminated in Q1 during Qualifying. In the race on Sunday he finished 17th as he couldn’t overtake any further. The Australian remained reflective after the race, looking forward to improving before the Grand Prix in Miami.
Struggles in maintaining race performance
Although Doohan completed the race, he wasn’t quite satisfied with the outcome. The Australian Driver explained how the performance of the tyres had affected his ability to overtake.
“I was trying to get the 0.3 to 0.4 under the start finish straight. And just not enough to get past. And just sort of wanted to put a back off, like the 0.8, 0.9, just to maybe let the tyres cool down. It was enough for the car behind me to be a little bit closer. And, to be honest, even if I was in DRS lane, I was a victim to them.”
“So I was doing everything I can. I felt like through the corners you weren’t too bad. And as soon as you got past by one car, then we started to lose our pit window that we wanted to, to the cars we were targeting.”
“And, yeah, it was a little bit downhill from there. So it was a very tough day. […] On the back foot, like you heard today, there was a little bit of a snowball. And it was quite strong. More difficult towards the end.”
Chasing in the second half of the F1 Saudi Arabian GP
As Doohan was faster in the second half of the race, he was able to overtake quite a few of his opponents. In the final laps he chased Gabriel Bortoleto, who finished 18th, down.
“Yeah, you know, me and [Bortoleto] were speaking to each other earlier. And hopefully very soon we’re not, you know, we’re having these fights, but in the points and further up. And then in the final positions on track.”
Confidence is key
Despite the challenges the Australian driver had to face in the last couple of races, he remains confident in improving in- and outside the car.
“For sure my confidence in the track and inside the car. Working with the team has sort of grown. And I’m continuing also to learn just how to optimise my packing. And also how to optimise after the unit. So, every lap I’m still learning. But I’m getting more and more confident.”
Improvements before Miami
Between the Grand Prix in Jeddah and in Miami are two weeks for improvement and to cool off. The Australian driver remained optimistic about upcoming improvement.
“We have a nice period now where we can switch off, reset, a couple of days in the simulator before we head to Miami. […] So, yeah, the goal is, it’s obviously a sprint to Miami. But the goal is to start on the front foot. To be inside the top ten in qualifying. And then, you know, do our best to stick there for the race.”
As it is Doohan’s first year in Formula 1, he had thoughts about where to shift the focus before the race-weekend in Miami.
The Australian driver explained,“I think, you know, we’ve got a lot of focus on the tyres.”
“I think, you know, we’re there and thereabouts on the qualifying days. I think, you know, if we start a bit further up, then we can sort of be in a bit more sync. Nobody’s so adventurous on the strategies. I think we’ll just roll over a little bit more.”
Even though Alpine didn’t gain any points in Jeddah, they made it clear they’re a worthy opponent and able to turn into a threat in the blink of an eye.
