Doohan off the pace in Jeddah as Gasly leads the way

Jack Doohan admitted things “have not yet clicked” after completing two practice sessions at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, struggling for pace on the soft tyre while teammate Pierre Gasly topped the timesheets in FP1.

Despite struggles on the soft tyre and a Red Flag interruption, the Australian showed moments of confidence on the medium compound as he worked to build momentum ahead of Qualifying.

“It has not been the easiest of Fridays for us,” Doohan said. 

“But there have still been plenty of learnings to take from the two sessions.

“It’s such a high-speed circuit and you need to build confidence to really be able to push the car.”

Doohan was one of the last drivers to open his Saudi Arabian FP1 campaign, but when he finally did, his time of 1:31.645s rewarded him with P12, a solid effort before a distraction-induced lock-up at Turn 27 ruined his next attempt.

The Australian briefly returned to the pitlane, putting on a fresh set of medium compound tyres before carving five-tenths out of his previous fastest time.

Scrubbing yet another set of tyres on his next tour of the seaside circuit, the Alpine driver went even quicker, however, his third stint on the medium tyre was only short-lived when it came time for his low-fuel, soft compound runs to start.

He held strong in P12, not improving in terms of position, but improving on his fastest time to sit under a second behind the then-benchmark— a lap that just so happened to be set by his flying teammate. 

The Australian rounded out the first practice session on the medium compound, returning to his garage with a fastest overall time of 1:30.183s.

“On my side, I felt quite comfortable on the Medium tyre,” he said.

“We have not yet clicked with the soft compound so there are a few things there for us to understand. 

“I am sure we will get on top of it ahead of Qualifying and hopefully maximise the potential of the package.”

Taking inspiration from Pierre Gasly’s table-topping pace in FP1, Doohan edged his way into the top five to start the second hour of track action, recording a time of 1:30.167s.

Doohan shaved another tenth off his fastest lap, however, he slipped down the order as a short-lived lull fell over the circuit.

The Australian rejoined the session on the soft compound tyre, looking to improve from P18 as one of the last drivers to launch.

Riding the kerb at Turn 9 hurt Doohan’s attempt, leaving him 1.5 seconds off the pace as he returned to the Alpine garage.

Rounding out FP2 on the medium compound, Doohan emerged from the pitlane with 15 minutes on the clock, lapping faster than both Ferrari and Red Bull before his program was brought to a premature end thanks to Yuki Tsunoda’s late crash.

The Red Flag left Doohan as the 17th fastest driver of the session, just permitting enough time to allow the Australian to complete a practice start on the grid before turning in for the night. 

“Free Practice 3 will no doubt be hot again like Free Practice 1 earlier today,” the #7 said.

“We will do our best to refine those details and be in a position to put ourselves up the order towards the top 10 and in the fight for Qualifying.”

The Alpine driver will have one more practice session before taking on Qualifying early on Sunday morning, with FP3 kicking off at 23:30 AEST.

Image: Sam Bloxham/LAT Images

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