Source : ABC NEWS
The Alpine F1 team says its Australian driver Jack Doohan is “OK” after he crashed during practice at Suzuka on Friday.
Doohan was on his fourth lap in the second free practice session when his car lost grip on the way to turn one.
He spun into the gravel before hitting the tyre barrier, with his Alpine car suffering significant damage and losing two wheels.
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“I’m OK,” Doohan told his team by radio.
The 22-year-old, attended by medics, appeared to move gingerly as he exited the track.
The Alpine team later posted: “Following precautionary checks, we can confirm Jack is OK. Now we are working hard to get the car ready for tomorrow.”
The practice session was paused for 20 minutes under a red flag.
Doohan — who sat out first practice at Suzuka as Ryo Hirakawa drove the Alpine — had an early race-ending crash at last month’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
He was already under pressure entering the second round of his first full-time F1 season, then finished 16th in China after being handed a 10-second penalty.
Doohan underwent precautionary medical checks following the crash. (Getty Images: Jayce Illman)
Doohan’s compatriot Ocar Piastri again looks set for a battle with his championship-leading teammate Lando Norris after the McLaren duo set the pace.
Piastri finished the day on top, only 0.049 seconds ahead of Norris, who was 0.404 clear of third-placed Isack Hadjar.
McLaren have won the first two races of the season — Norris winning in Australia and Piastri in China — and are favourites heading into this weekend at Suzuka.
Piastri finished only 15th in the first session, which was topped by Norris, but the second running was more representative as the pair look the drivers to beat heading into qualifying on Saturday.
“It’s been a bit of an up-and-down day but there’s definitely been positives in there,” Piastri said.
“We’ve got a few things to tidy up for tomorrow. FP2 was a pretty stop-start session, which made it tricky to go through everything but there were still some good learnings.
“A couple of tweaks and we’ll be good to go.”
AAP
