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Jack Doohan’s spectacular flat-out crash in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix was caused by the rookie driver failing to close the DRS system.
Alpine’s Doohan lost the rear of the car on the entry to Turn 1 and hit the barrier on the corner exit at high speed, causing massive damage to the car. He was able to get out of the car and was helped to the safety car by a doctor and a marshal.
His initial reaction over the radio was confusion, asking the team what happened, but Alpine has now confirmed the cause.
“We are all relieved to see Jack walk away from his incident in Free Practice 2 and glad to see he is OK after his precautionary checks," team boss Oliver Oakes said.
"It was a misjudgement of not closing the DRS into Turn 1. It is something to learn from and I know Jack and the team will be ready for tomorrow."
Doohan said: “First of all, I am OK after the incident. It was a heavy one, something that caught me by surprise, and I will learn from it.
"I know the team has a lot of work ahead to repair the car going into tomorrow, so thanks in advance to them for their efforts."
The opening of the rear wing to boost top speed is controlled by a button on the driver’s steering wheel. It is automatically closed whenever a driver hits the brakes the first time after DRS is engaged.
But Turn 1 at Suzuka can be taken rapidly and reducing speed can be achieved by lifting off the throttle rather than braking, meaning the DRS would stay open unless manually closed.
DRS is only permitted in sections designated by the FIA partly for safety, because the loss of downforce caused by the wing opening would make F1 cars tough to control in any corner at any speed, never mind the high-speed Turn 1 at Suzuka.
Doohan had already missed FP1 as the team had placed Ryo Hirakawa in the car for what was an impressive appearance setting a faster lap time than his team-mate Pierre Gasly in front of his home crowd.
Doohan only got four laps of Suzuka in an F1 car before the crash, and the team faces a long evening to get his car ready for FP3 on Saturday morning.
The crash was one of four red flags in a wild FP2 session, with Fernando Alonso's off between the Degners and sparks setting grass around the track on fire causing the others,
