At-risk F1 driver reminded of “the small things you can’t forget to do”

The under-pressure Jack Doohan has been reminded to “cover your bases” in his ongoing battle to keep his F1 seat.

The Alpine driver entered his rookie campaign already under the microscope, because his team signed up Williams’ impressive Franco Colapinto as a reserve option.

Doohan endured an F1 Japanese Grand Prix to forget - he skipped the first practice session so Alpine could fulfil their young driver responsibilities with Ryo Hirakawa.

When he stepped into the car for the next session, he crashed badly at 180mph after just four laps.

Can Jack Doohan keep Alpine F1 seat?

“The mistake he made was a mistake he cannot afford to make,” Naomi Schiff told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

“He hadn’t been on the track, it wasn’t the easiest situation to jump into FP2 without any laps in FP1.

“But this is a driver who has done loads of laps for this team in testing, and as a reserve driver in the simulator.

“You’d think you’d cover all of your bases, when there’s a driver hot on your heels for your seat.

“These are the small things you can’t forget to do.

“Cover your bases! Don’t make a mistake like that because you don’t have the muscle memory from the simulator.

“Maybe it’s a capacity thing. Because he’s under pressure and is desperate to prove himself and get everything right, he might have been too focused on the lap or the speed and not other details. But that’s the name of the game.”

Alpine’s decision-making, to remove Doohan from their car for FP1 at Suzuka, was questioned amid the pressure he is under.

But the crash meant that Ralf Schumacher led the high-profile voices suggesting Alpine could replace him with Colapinto for this weekend’s F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Doohan will, in fact, retain his Alpine in Bahrain and will look to build on his P15 finish in Japan.

The Sky Sports F1 podcast hinted that Doohan has three more rounds - Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami - before Alpine will decide whether to replace him with Colapinto.

Simon Lazenby said about Doohan’s crash in Japan: “It did feel like the writing was on the wall, that the pressure was bearing down on him and it was too much.

“Jacques Villeneuve felt that he wasn’t able to deal with the pressure.

“But there have been flashes from Jack. He deserves a full season after the flashes we’ve seen.”