Doohan calls for one-lap pace improvement after tough Saudi race

Alpine’s Jack Doohan has vowed to focus on improving his single-lap performance after enduring what he described as “one of my most difficult days in Formula 1 to date” during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Australian rookie was left frustrated after a tough weekend in Jeddah, where an “adventurous” race strategy failed to yield results following a difficult qualifying session.

Doohan lined up 17th on the grid, unable to match on Saturday the pace of teammate Pierre Gasly, who impressively made it into Q3.

However, Gasly’s race was short-lived after a contact with Yuki Tsunoda ended his evening on the opening lap. That same incident triggered a Safety Car, which Alpine used to gamble on strategy with Doohan.

Strategy Gamble Fails to Pay Off

Alpine opted to pit Doohan under the Safety Car regime, swapping his mediums for hards in a bid to go long and shake up the midfield order.

With little to lose, the strategy – also followed by Haas- Esteban Ocon and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto – made sense on paper given Jeddah’s low-degradation surface

But in practice, the tyres began to fall off by Lap 32, forcing a second stop and dashing any hopes of climbing up the order. The Australian ultimately finished where he started – in 17th position

“A combination of things just weren’t clicking. The first stint just wasn’t looking terrible,” commented Doohan, reflecting on the call.

“We obviously took the gamble on that first lap Safety Car. I questioned it initially because I was like ‘well, we’ve got 49 laps to go here on this hard,’ and to be honest, I felt quite comfortable in the first laps behind Nico [Hulkenberg].”

• Read also: F1i Driver Ratings for the 2025 Saudi Arabian GP

However, once in traffic, Doohan found himself stuck behind the German driver.

“Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough to get past on the straights. Then I would take a lap to not be up his gearbox and let everything cool down, but if I wasn’t at that 0.5-0.6s and was still in DRS, I was just a victim to the cars behind.”

Eyes on Qualifying Improvements

Doohan’s clear takeaway from the Jeddah weekend is the importance of achieving a strong Saturday.

Having qualified poorly, he found himself predictably boxed in strategically, leading to a difficult Sunday. He’s determined to reverse that trend in future races.

“I think we just have to focus on our strengths and if we put everything together on one lap, we can be there in Quali,” Doohan admitted.

“I think then that will make everything a little bit easier, will make our strategy a bit more simple and would not pressure us into having to do such adventurous things to try to make up for it.

“Here, there was a lot more going on and some more difficulties, but we’ve got to keep our heads down and chins up.”

As Alpine continues to find its feet in a tightly packed midfield, Doohan’s progress – particularly over one lap – will be crucial in helping the team avoid another ill-fated strategy Hail Mary.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via X and Facebook