This week’s second Grand Prix article is going to be a little more free-flowing. Rather than bore you all with another generic, non-partisan write up, I’m gonna cut loose and let my biases show as a “sports journalist” and F1 fan. Seeing as this is Carter’s Columns, I might as well tell you what I, Carter Simon Morel, think and feel.
The first cab off the rank will be Jack Doohan’s error filled start to his debut season. It is no secret that the 22-year-old from Queensland is under quite a bit of pressure this year, what with Franco Colapinto waiting in the wings.
In the cut throat world of F1, drivers either sink or swim.
Battling it out for fame, glory, and a whole lotta prize money, teams can’t wait around for their drivers to get settled in. Gone are the days of drivers coming into F1 after honing their skills in other categories for a few years. Rookies are expected to jump out of the comparatively slower, far less extreme F2 cars and perform on the spot. While Doohan has shown glimpses of his racing prowess, he has also made a few costly mistakes. Considering his predicament, Doohan can’t afford to keep messing up.
Doohan managed to make it out of Q1 on his debut in Melbourne, putting in a time that was faster than his race winning team mate Pierre Gasly. He was on a decent lap in Q2 before Lewis Hamilton decided to bottle it at turn 11 and bring out the yellow flag. The Gold Coast boy would end up qualifying 14th for the big race on Sunday. Rain isn’t ideal for any race, least of all your first on home soil. There was chaos before the race even started, with Isack Hadjar crashing out on the formation lap. Doohan wouldn’t last much longer than the fellow rookie. Applying too much throttle out of turn 5, Doohan’s Alpine struggled for grip on the damp track, sending him into the wall on the opening lap. Doohan blamed a lack of tire temperature for his careless mistake, which let’s be honest is understandable. But how many mistakes can we pass off as being “careless” before they become “costly?”
Doohan wouldn’t have to wait long to redeem himself, with the second round in China just a week later. While a track limits violation saw him bow out early on in Sprint Qualifying, Doohan’s fastest lap was good enough to beat his teammate’s. While Gasly moved up the field during the 29 lap shootout, Doohan lost a number of places, going from 16th down to 20th. He would end up qualifying 18th after he spun at turn 10 on his flying lap. Doohan would do a lot better in the race, finishing 14th on track but ultimately 13th after Gasly, Leclerc, and Hamilton were disqualified. Slapped with a 10 second time penalty for forcing Isack Hadjar off the road, Doohan’s race wasn’t without its faults. But at least he got to spend a bit more time in the car.
After back to back races to start the season, Doohan would have a little time to relax before the next race in Japan. In a truly baffling move by everyone involved, Doohan sat out the first practice session to let the 31-year-old Ryo Hirakawa have a go in his car. This, as we would learn not too long later, proved quite costly, not only for Doohan, but also Alpine. Why on earth they would decide to take Doohan out of the car instead of his much more experienced team mate is beyond me. You’d think you’d want to give your struggling rookie driver as much time as he needs to get used to the track. But I don’t know. Taking over commentary duties from Martin Brundle this race, former F1 driver and World Champion Jacques Villeneuve was just as puzzled as I was about the whole situation. With Suzuka being one of the toughest tracks on the F1 calendar, Villeneuve said that drivers, especially rookies, “need to spend time on it.” Heading into the usually flat-out turn 1, Doohan mysteriously lost grip and spun off the road, hitting the wall at almost 300 kph during the second practice session. Doohan’s sickening crash registered a whopping 51 g, bringing out the red flag. With the amount of grip these ground effect cars have, Villeneuve said there was no way Doohan shouldn’t have made the corner, unless the aero balance was “completely off.” Like any other F1 driver has and will always do, Doohan went into the corner with absolute confidence, assuming he had enough down-force to pull it off. But the issue was a little sillier than that. Talking with Sky Sports presenter Ted Kravitz after the session was over, Alpine’s Team Principal Oliver Oakes confirmed what many people had already speculated. Forgetting to turn off his DRS, Doohan went into the corner with a whole lot more speed than he needed to. The “misjudgment” as Oakes decided to put it, cost Alpine millions and left Doohan battered and bruised. Yet another careless mistake saw Doohan qualify 19th for Sunday’s race. Fronting the media, Doohan chose to put his careless mistake from FP2 behind him. Rumour has it that Doohan learnt the bad habit in the simulator. Maybe if he didn’t sit out the first practice and was actually given all the time he needed to learn the track he wouldn’t have even made the misjudgment in the first place. But I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy. On a circuit where track position is key, Doohan managed to make up a few places over the race distance, going from 19th to 15th. Visibly sore after the race, Doohan had to be helped out of his Alpine by team personnel and fellow F1 driver Esteban Ocon.
The point of all this is that, under normal circumstances, Doohan would be given all the time he needs to improve and develop as an F1 driver. But for whatever reason, Alpine seems to be actively screwing with Doohan to elicit mistakes, playing mind games to hinder his progress. It doesn’t help that Doohan keeps making careless mistakes, feeding rumours about his imminent replacement. Doohan was lucky to get his race seat over reserve driver Franco Colapinto in the first, seeing as how sought after the Argentinean is this year. F1 insider Ralf Schumacher claims Christian Horner, Red Bull’s Team Principal, wanted Franco Colapinto to replace Sergio Perez, not Liam Lawson or even Yuki Tsunoda, for the 2025 season. The F1 driver turned pundit said Horner didn’t “rate them highly,” wanting the Argentine Colapinto instead. But with Alpine snatching up Colapinto before he could get his hands on him, Horner was left with no other option but to promote an academy driver, in this case Liam Lawson. As tough as this may be, Doohan needs to get his head out of his butt and wisen up. The clock is ticking and he can’t afford to keep making these mistakes.
Next on the list is McLaren’s handling of the Piastri situation. By that I mean the number 2 driver seemingly having more race pace than his far more experienced teammate. Despite this, McLaren, like we saw in Melbourne and in the Japanese Grand Prix, stand in the way of becoming F1’s next champion. Both Piastri and Norris won their first races last year, despite Norris having been in the sport for five years longer than his teammate. While Piastri’s first win did come under less than ideal circumstances, he proved it wasn’t a flood a few weeks later. Despite having the fastest car on the grid so far this year, Norris could not get into DRS range of Max Verstappen, ensuring the reigning champ won his 4th consecutive Japanese Grand Prix from pole. But Piastri had no trouble catching up to, and getting within DRS range of, his teammate. I don’t believe a word of what Andrea Stella says about Norris saving his tires. That, pardon my English, is bullshit. The turbulent air coming off of Norris’s car didn’t seem to affect Piastri’s pace one bit. I am sick of watching Australian drivers get the short end of the stick. Piastri is our first real chance of getting an Aussie champ since Mark Webber, sorry Doohan and Ricciardo. Piastri has the speed and he has the talent to fight for the title. So why oh why isn’t he being given the support he needs. I genuinely can’t, and kinda don’t want to, see Lando Norris become F1’s next World Champion. He doesn’t have the same aura. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m not. I just wanna see my boy Piastri do well. Is that too much to ask?
