Jack Doohan’s frustration boiled over into a scathing rebuke of his Alpine team after a chaotic pit lane mishap derailed his chances in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix.
The Australian rookie, already under intense scrutiny in his debut Formula 1 season, was left stranded in 17th place after a simultaneous garage exit with teammate Pierre Gasly deprived him of a second flying lap in the opening segment of the session.
Doohan’s fiery team radio outburst and subsequent comments laid bare his anger at what he described as an unacceptable operational error, one that potentially robbed him of a shot at advancing past SQ1.
The incident unfolded when both Alpine drivers were released from the garage at the same time. Doohan, positioned on the left-hand side, had teammate Pierre Gasly exiting from the right.
As Doohan attempted to swing out of the pit box, he ran out of steering lock and had to be pushed back by his mechanics.
That brief delay allowed a string of cars to pass him in the pit lane queue — ultimately costing him vital track position.
“It all comes down to that last flying lap,” Doohan said.
“Plan was good, feeling was good, and just ended up getting blocked on my way out of pit lane, which was a mess up specifically because it was from the other car.
“So then I wasn’t able to do the final timed lap.
“That’s why they make the length of quali that long; you do two laps and improve quite a lot in the second lap.
“I ended up being the last car out there and didn’t get a chance to do a second timed lap.”
Doohan’s frustration was compounded by the fact that his only recorded lap – a 1:29.171 – left him just 0.257s short of advancing. Gasly had no such pit lane issues and used his second lap to clock a 1:28.345, securing a spot in SQ2.
The time difference suggested that had Doohan been able to run again, he may well have had the pace to move on.
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“First lap was really, really messy, just trying a few things different from practice,” Doohan admitted.
“Still, it wasn’t too bad, and I think there was a lot more time in the car for the second lap. I guess we’ll never know.”
Doohan will now start Saturday’s 19-lap Sprint from 17th on the grid – a far cry from where he had hoped to be in what was only his latest opportunity to impress in an increasingly competitive F1 environment.
While he’ll aim to move forward during the Sprint, the sting of a lost opportunity due to internal team mismanagement will likely linger.
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