Jack Doohan expressed frustration Friday after an issue involving his Alpine team led to an early exit from Sprint Qualifying at the Miami Grand Prix. The Australian driver was eliminated from the first segment of the session after being held up in the pit lane by teammate Pierre Gasly, preventing him from starting a final timed lap.
Doohan initially voiced his disappointment over the team radio immediately after the incident, stating the situation was "not acceptable" and that putting him out of the session was "a joke."
He later explained that his frustration stemmed from the self-inflicted nature of the problem, which cost him the opportunity to improve his lap time.
Being blocked leaving the pit lane meant Doohan was the last car on track and did not make it to the start line before the checkered flag fell. Drivers typically find more time on their second flying laps during these short qualifying segments.
Other drivers also faced challenges during the condensed qualifying format. Yuki Tsunoda rued poor communication after his early sprint qualifying exit in Miami, missing his final lap due to being held up by team mate Max Verstappen entering the pits.
Tsunoda described the communication as "pretty poor" and said he wasn't able to complete a proper qualifying effort because of the traffic issue at the pit exit on his first lap and then missing his second.
The qualifying session set the grid for Saturday's Sprint race, where McLaren's Norris wins chaotic Miami sprint race as Hamilton grabs third for Ferrari in changing weather conditions.
Despite starting the Sprint race from a compromised grid position, Doohan aims to learn from the event for Sunday's main race and the second qualifying session later Saturday.
Speaking after the session, Doohan vents at Alpine for causing early sprint qualifying exit, saying, "Just try to move forward as much as possible in the Sprint... The Sprint’s gonna be a tough one; we just need to learn as much as we can from that for the main race and then focus on the main qualifying."
