Under pressure F1 star “not guaranteed” to be in Bahrain after “mistake”
“They’ll sit down with him, and I’m curious to see what happens. He’s not guaranteed to be in the next race.”
Ralf Schumacher believes Jack Doohan isn’t guaranteed to be driving for Alpine at this weekend’s F1 Bahrain Grand Prix after making a “fatal mistake” in Japan.
It was another lacklustre weekend from Doohan at the Japanese Grand Prix.
After missing the first practice session as Ryo Hirakawa took his spot, Doohan crashed heavily in the early minutes of FP2.
Doohan lost control of his car in the opening sequence of corners, resulting in a violent crash.
It soon transpired that Doohan had kept his DRS open into the corner - something he had tried on the team’s simulator.
The rest of the weekend was below par for Doohan, who was again out-performed by teammate Pierre Gasly.
Doohan has been under constant pressure since the start of the season after
Alpine signed Franco Colapinto as their test and reserve driver.
Speaking on Sky Germany, Schumacher thinks that Doohan’s place on the grid for Bahrain isn’t certain.
“He’s driven by his own team, but also by his driving,” Schumacher said.
“He makes a lot of mistakes and isn’t fast enough. One more thing happened this week.
“Ryo Hirakawa, who got into the car in the first practice session, was right on par with Pierre Gasly. He got in and made this fatal mistake.
“This will be analyzed from a team perspective. At the moment, he’s overwhelmed by the situation.
“They’ll sit down with him, and I’m curious to see what happens. He’s not guaranteed to be in the next race.”
Colapinto waiting for Alpine chance
After impressing for Williams at the end of last year, Colapinto is waiting for his chance to return to the grid.
Colapinto proved to be a significant upgrade on Logan Sargeant when he stepped into the Williams in the middle of last year.
His form was so impressive that it attracted interest from Red Bull.
Red Bull considered Colapinto for their two F1 teams.
Interest dissipated after Colapinto's poor run of form at the end of the year, which was combined with some on-track mistakes.
Flavio Briatore maintained his interest, ultimately signing Colapinto as their test and reserve driver for the season.
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