Doohan's heavy crash causes Red Flag in Japan!

Doohan finished the session in the barrier with a heavily-damaged Alpine car, causing a late shift for the French team's mechanics. Luckily, the Australian driver was OK, and got out of his car.

He lost control of his car as his DRS was still open when entering the corner. As these cars can take the corner without braking, it would have to be manually closed, therefore that led to the sudden loss of control of his back end. He surprised himself in the process. After confirming he is fine, he said over the team radio: "What happened?"

Doohan missed FP1 this weekend, after Alpine gave Ryo Hirakawa a chance to drive in the session at his home Grand Prix.