Given the relegation to the Racing Bulls for Liam Lawson, what is the chance for Jack Doohan looking like, given Franco Colapinto is the spare driver? – Anjum
Well, the first thing to say is that just because Red Bull demoted Lawson doesn’t necessarily mean that Alpine will do the same to Doohan.
On the surface, the Australians have started their season traumatically. In three races so far, he has experienced two large and expensive crashes. One when he spun wet in Australia and one practiced in Japan on Friday. Both were his errors.
Doohan was not the only driver to crash in Melbourne’s difficult wet state. So did Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sain. And more drivers have made spins or mistakes.
And there were some important easing situations in Suzuka.
Doohan’s crash crash was caused by him entering Turn 1 and DRS overtaking aids were still open. So the car didn’t have enough downforce to deal with the G-force.
He was doing the same thing on the simulator in preparation for the race. But with the small lift he had on this particular knee, it wasn’t.
At the same time, given his lack of experience, it would have been a good idea for the engineer to remind him of it.
However, Alpine wasn’t aware that he was doing this on the simulator.
Another mitigation factor was that Duhan was under pressure to make up for the time as he missed his first practice while the spare driver, Ryo River Sakigawa, was given his car out.
Given Doohan’s lack of experience with Suzuka, Alpine couldn’t let Hirakawa enter the car of his teammate Pierre Guthrie for his first practice? They had a difficult weekend in China and wanted to evaluate some new setup ideas, so they felt that Guthrie’s experience was needed.
Despite two major accidents, Alpine had a positive start to the season with Doohan balancing and a few promising paces hidden by some unfortunate circumstances.
But he certainly isn’t safe yet.
If they decide to replace him, Alpine has two spare drivers who can potentially step up – Corapinto and Estonian Paul Aron will be driving the car for their first practice this weekend in Bahrain.
Since signing Corapinto from Williams following the cameo role in the last few races last season, the theory has been access to Latin American money, meaning Argentina is in the time Duhan borrowed.
However, the threat appears to be declining for now, and the funds are probably more theoretical than reality.
But ultimately, Doohan’s fate rests on the whims of Alpine’s executive advisor Flavio Bryator. When he decides it, he decides to decide.
