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Friday, May 27 2022
Aussie rising star lifts lid on ‘obscene' first F1 test and why's it's made him a better racer

Aussie young gun Jack Doohan says his first taste of F1 machinery was “outrageous” but has made him a better driver for his first full-time Formula 2 season.

Doohan climbed into his first F1 car in Qatar two weeks ago in a private test as part of his Alpine Academy development program, which he joined at the start of the year.

It’s the same program that brought fellow Australian Oscar Piastri through the ranks to become Alpine’s reserve driver this season.

Doohan, son of five-time motorcycling champion Mick, told the In the Fast Lane podcast that the step up from the junior formulae to F1 machinery was bigger than he expected and impossible to prepare for.

“There were elements definitely that I knew were going to be extreme, but then when it actually happened, they definitely surprised me,” he told the In the Fast Lane podcast. “The braking performance was just obscene. It’s just absolutely unbelievable.

“I know the brakes are going to be very efficient, but there’s nothing you can do when going into your first hard braking zone and it being just a proper head slapper.

“Predicting that was just not possible. It was extreme.

“Also just the amount of downforce on the entry into even slow and medium-speed corners, how much speed you can just roll in, is just outrageous.

“Everything’s just times 10, to be honest. I was going to go through it, but then I was just thinking that absolutely everything is just better.

“It was a really cool experience.”

But more than undoubtedly giving him a sore neck, Doohan said his first F1 experience had already made him a better Formula 2 driver.

“You hop in the car and it outlines areas where you [can improve],” he said. “You finish the first day and you realise, ‘All right, that’s what in this car I can work a bit on’, ‘That’s actually already at quite a good level’, ‘Here is maybe a bit more when I can maximise’.

And the proof of the improvement is in the results, with the 19-year-old ending his 2022 podium drought with a second-place finish in the Spanish Grand Prix feature race, with pole position and fastest lap to go with it.

“What I took away from Formula 1 coming back to Formula 2 is that there were so many things that were happening over the lap in the Formula 1 car,” he said. “I just took that as an advantage when I came back to Formula 2 and maybe only had to change the brake bias once or twice a lap.

“Everything was slowed down in an excessive way. I think it really helped slow everything down and give me more time to think about what I’m doing now, which I think is a strength, as well as expand my knowledge of a Formula 1 car.”

The last fortnight has been a big tick for Doohan’s career trajectory and exactly the sort of progress the Australian was hoping for when he defected from the Red Bull Junior Team to the Alpine Academy at the start of the season.

It was a move that surprised at the time given Red Bull’s prominence in Formula 1, but Doohan’s integration with the team on and off the track and through his development program have made clear why he made the switch.

“This is everything that wanted to make me join,” he said. “Not obviously just ‘you can drive a Formula 1 car’, but everything that led up also to the Formula 1 test — the time at the factory, the race sim support but also the 2023 car development and just being able to feel a lot more involved within the team than I have in previous years elsewhere.

“I’m really creating a good relationship between the different people in the Formula 1 team and throughout the academy and really just trying to extract the best potential that I can have to make sure that I perform on track.

“The main thing that really pushed me to join Alpine was being able to know that I can grow more as a driver and not just be representing an F1 academy.”

Doohan’s season continues this weekend with his first experience of the Monaco Grand Prix. He currently sits 10th in the standings and 56 points behind title leader Felipe Drugovich, but he’s hoping to turn his Barcelona podium into some momentum.

“My Formula 2 season hadn’t been too impressive other than a pole position and a fastest lap, so I’m glad to be able to have at least a decent weekend under my belt now,” he said.

“I’m really enjoying my time with the boys there and we’re all getting along really well. Obviously it helps when you’re getting good results, but we know that the pace has been there.”

Posted by: AT 02:26 am   |  Permalink   |  Email
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