Jack Doohan reveals pain side-effects from massive F1 shunt

Jack Doohan has revealed he suffered from pain and soreness throughout the F1 Japanese Grand Prix weekend following his massive practice crash.

The Alpine driver hurtled into the Turn 1 barriers at 185mph after losing control of his car at the start of his second flying lap in FP2 on Friday at Suzuka.

Doohan, who did not manually deactivate his Alpine’s DRS system into the corner after doing the same in the simulator during his preparation for the weekend, escaped injury but was seen walking gingerly away from the scene of the shunt.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Doohan shed light on some of the side effects he battled with for the remainder of the weekend in Japan on his way to a 15th-place finish.

“I was sore a little bit on Friday certainly, Saturday a little bit worse and Sunday a little bit worse again,” Doohan said on Thursday in Bahrain.

“So I would say there was pain from the start of the race, not necessarily towards the end. But that helps with the adrenaline a little bit for sure.

"It’s natural with the shunt and the positioning that I suffered a little bit of soreness, but a couple of days off on Monday, Tuesday and also yesterday [Wednesday] has been very much needed and very good for the body.”

Jack Doohan targeting clean Bahrain weekend

The big accident, Doohan’s second in three races, has done little to ease the pressure on him as rumours continue to swirl about his future.

If Doohan fails to perform, he is at risk of losing his Alpine seat to reserve driver Franco Colapinto. 

He has so far been convincingly outperformed by teammate Pierre Gasly. 

The 22-year-old Australian is targeting a clean weekend in Bahrain to bounce back from a bruising start to his rookie F1 campaign.

“There’s been at least some silver lining and some positives to take away from each weekend, which have been the most important thing,” he said.

“As long as you learn, whether it’s a setback, things you can improve on, how to get closer, you digest them and make sure you know where those positives came from and how to replicate them.

“I think the biggest thing this weekend is just to put the weekend together and have a smooth weekend from start to finish. Just keep building and inching closer and closer so that we can start to get that complete package.”