Jack Doohan left the monster’s fast crash early in the second practice session, which was significantly confused by the second practice session topped by Oscar Piastri at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Doohan lost control of his Alpine on Turn 1 on the fifth lap of the day, and his car revolved from under him at 205 mph.
Australia pirouetted at high speed through gravel to the barrier and pulsated against the wall.
Doohan immediately radioed that he was OK, but the 22-year-old, caught up in the twenty-two-year-old, took his time getting out of the car before he was soaked in the medical car.
He was subsequently spared injuries at the medical center and was released by his team.
A replay of the video suggests that Dohan’s doctor was open when he tilted the car towards the corner. The DRS closes automatically when the brake is applied, but Turn 1 was taken flat and it is possible that Doohan could not close manually.
Also, during the session, the strong tailwind had passed through the main straight.
FP2 was Doohan’s first session the day after the driver surrendered the car to book Ryoyo Hirakawa for FP1.
The session was stopped for almost 25 minutes, with the circuit organizer repairing the turn 1 barrier and reopening with 30 minutes remaining, but the running continued three minutes before the second stop in the afternoon.
Alonso cut out the grass at the entrance to Degner 1. It was enough to spin him into a trap of gravel.
The Red Flag cost team was another eight minutes of track time, but the session was green for just five minutes when it was stopped at a third.
Just seven minutes remained when the session resumed, and Oscar Piastri used his short time to rocket the top spot with a best lap of 1m 28.114, picking teammate Rand Norris for 0.049.
Norris tried to respond, but the late final sector, about half a second away from his personal best in that split, put him behind his sister car.
The session ended under the fourth final red flag for the second grass fire. This time I’ll use a spoon curve.
Isack Hadjar has completed the top three for Racing Bulls. The French rookie sneaked into his best time following Alonso’s Red Flag.
However, although orders are limited as typical orders, there is only 21 minutes of green flag running spread across four windows, with no driver completing more than 14 laps.
Lewis Hamilton is fourth in the Ferrari, 0.43 seconds from the pace, and the Ferrari driver is just 0.015s more than the second Racing Bulls car, Liam Lawson.
George Russell was sixth ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
Pierre Guthrie was ninth in the Alpine before Carlos Sign, who completed Williams’ top 10.
Alex Albon followed Sauber teammates Nico Halkenberg and Gabriel Boltreto and Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Baerman.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was 16th in Mercedes ahead of a stroll with Fernando Alonso, Red Bull Racing’s Yuki Tsunoda and Lance.
Doohan was classified last, and only completed four laps.
