Jack Doohan Destroys Car in Horror Crash at Japanese Grand Prix Practice

Alpine’s Jack Doohan took to the Suzuka track for Free Practice Session Two of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, looking to get some much-needed laps under his belt, as his F1 career rookie season continued. However, the 22-year-old sat out the opening practice hour, handing his car over to Ryo Hirakawa for one of Alpine’s junior runs for the 2025 season.

But just seven-and-a-half minutes into FP2, and on only his fourth lap, Doohan caused the red flags to fly as he clattered the barriers at Turn 1, destroying the left-hand side of his car and both the front and rear wings.

As Doohan did not drive in first practice, he was coming into the second session on Friday without having become acclimatised to the track. He paid the price for that when he lost control, resulting in a massive crash. TV replays suggesting he had touched the painted white line with his wheels, which would have reduced the amount of grip he had.

Jack Doohan’s Alpine Car was Completely Destroyed in the Incident

The Australian was led away from the scene by medics

After the significant hit to his Alpine, the Aussie racer immediately confirmed over team radio that he was unharmed, although he did appear out of breath when confirming: “I’m okay. What happened?”

The crash caused a twenty-minute delay in the session, while doctors and medics tended to the Australian. Alpine confirmed later that Doohan was “undergoing standard medical evaluation”. He was later seen walking through the paddock.

The heavy contact ripped two wheels off his A525 machine. Doohan’s shunt was an unusual one. Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft was quick to rule out “driver error”, while pundit and professional racing driver Anthony Davidson offered a number of alternative theories.

“He suddenly lost all downforce at the rear end but was quite aggressive when he turned in,” 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve told Sky Sports.

“I think he was shocked and didn’t expect it, a bit slow in his reaction but he was a passenger at that point. We are not used to seeing those moments in F1 anymore, these big impacts, but it looks like the crash was well absorbed.”

Onboard replays do not suggest it was driver error at this stage. As soon as he turned in, there was no rear grip, which sent him into the wall with the left side of the car hitting the barriers side on.

The DRS was open on Doohan’s crash. In F2 or F3, you would close that moments before braking. In F1 they can get away with cutting that margin even finer but it still needs to be closed before you hit the brakes for the corner. It does look like the DRS was open ever so slightly. This could suggest that either Doohan forgot to close it, or the system stopped working, contributing to the high-speed shunt.

It was a chaotic session, with Doohan’s crash one of FOUR stoppages, which disrupted whatever plans teams had for the second half of the session, which normally prioritises longer runs.

Fernando Alonso beached his Aston Martin in the gravel, before two separate grass fires caused further delays. Doohan will be hoping to be able to take part in the Grand Prix on Sunday, assuming he gets the all-clear from F1’s medical team.