Jack Doohan’s huge crash in Japan caused by his DRS (video)
During the Japanese Grand Prix, Australian alpine driver Jack Doohan was involved in a huge crash at the first corner of the circuit. The cause is thought to be the DRS, which failed to close under braking.
This first day of free practice for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix in Formula 1 was marked by numerous red flags. The most notable was undoubtedly during the second free practice session, caused by Jack Doohan at the exit of the first corner.
Indeed, at the first corner, with prices almost at full throttle, the drivers do not sufficiently ease off to trigger the automatic closure of the movable wing system that equips the single-seaters. As a result, they must remember to manually close the DRS, which, according to photos and video evidence, was not done by the Australian driver from Alpine.
It’s one of the only corners on the calendar where the DRS has to be closed manually.
DRAPEAU ROUGE 🚩
ÉNORME CRASH DE JACK DOOHAN 🤯Le pilote Alpine indique aller bien à la radio après avoir perdu sa monoplace à pleine vitesse dans le premier virage.#JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/WNgMAB8PCZ
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) April 4, 2025
The crash of the Alpine is impressive due to the minimal deceleration the car had between leaving the track and hitting the tire wall, which is very close on a circuit like Suzuka.
On the radio, the driver expressed surprise and seemed not to understand what had happened: « I’m OK. What happened? » he said.
The team therefore confirmed that it was indeed a mistake by the driver, even though the wing did close once the deceleration of the car was greater. However, it was already too late.
Jack Doohan indeed lost the rear of his car as soon as he turned the steering wheel. Without the downforce caused by the rear wing, the car’s balance was completely different, and Doohan hadn’t yet pushed the wheels to the limit on the track. His management indeed decided to have a Japanese reserve driver take part, on home ground, during Free Practice 1.
