Jack Doohan had a difficult sprint qualifying in Miami. After a first run which put him 16th in SQ1, Doohan was unable to go on a second run. Teammate Pierre Gasly was sent out at the same time. This blocked the Australian, who is one of four drivers this season who has not scored points.
Doohan calls blocking a ‘mess up’.
The 22 year old was vocal about his struggles. He was not being happy with the team as he felt he was blocked by Gasly. As a result, Doohan was out in SQ1 as he didn’t have enough time to start his lap.
“It all comes down to the last flying lap and I think that the feeling was good, but I just ended up getting blocked on my way out the pit lane which was a mess up, because it was from the other car.
“And then I wasn’t able to do another flying lap. That’s why they make the length of Quali that long, to do two laps and improve quite a lot on the second lap. I ended up being the last car out there and didn’t get a chance to do a second timed lap.”
A lot more time available in the car
Doohan’s frustration was heard on the radio. He believed that there was a lot of time in the car and that he had more pace than what was indicated in sprint qualifying. The Alpine driver missed out on SQ2 by two and a half tenths of a second. He starts 17th for the sprint, compared to Gasly who is 13th.
“I think the first lap was really, really messy – just trying a few things different from practice. But still I think it wasn’t too bad, there was a lot more time in the car for the second lap. I guess we’ll never know now.”
Looking ahead to the Sprint and Qualifying
Doohan remained positive though, and wanted to move on from sprint qualifying as soon as possible, with his focus going to the Sprint and Qualifying.
“[I’ve] just [got to] try to move forward as much as possible. We have another shot at Quali tomorrow afternoon, Sprint will be a tough one, just learn as much as we can from that for the main race and then focus on Quali.”
