‘It’s a joke’: Livid Aussie Jack Doohan blasts team with radio swipe

Aussie Jack Doohan has blown up on team radio and was still visibly fuming as he walked down pit lane at the Miami Grand Prix.

Jack Doohan has given his team an almighty serve after a Miami Grand Prix sprint race qualifying disaster on Saturday.

The Aussie driver was livid after a pit lane blunder saw him eliminated in the opening qualifying session on a dramatic day in Florida.

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Oscar Piastri will start Sunday’s sprint race from the front row after finishing Q3 in second spot as Mercedes’ rising star Kimi Antonelli shocked the field to secure his first pole position.

Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris was third, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, one day after the birth of his first child, was fourth.

At the back of the grid was where the biggest drama was with Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda also knocked out in Q1.

Doohan and Tsunoda were both blocked in their attempts to get back on the track for a final flying lap in the session. They were unable to get out of pit lane before the session ended.

The 22-year-old Aussie was furious with his Alpine team’s failure to get him back on the Miami street circuit — and gave them a piece of his mind over the team’s radio.

You can watch the heated radio incident in the video player above.

Jack Doohan let his team have it. Photo: Getty.

Replays on Sky Sports showed a communication error put Doohan behind teammate Pierre Gasly in the pecking order in a move that ultimately resulted in members of the Alpine crew needing to physically push the car backwards to make the turn out of the garage.

The delay saw other cars move ahead of him in the queue and he was never given an opportunity to complete his final flying lap.

To say he was angry is an understatement.

“That’s not acceptable,” he fumed over team radio. “If you’re going to send him [Gasly] before me, you have to make sure he’s ready.

“I can’t turn out and have to turn in because he’s going to turn into me.

“Then you put me out in Q1. That’s a joke.”

His pit wall engineer responded on the team radio with a sheepish “sorry”.

He was clearly still fuming as he made his walk down pit lane after the session.
After his radio bake, Sky Sports reported Doohan was “ranting” as he walked with his personal trainer.

Doohan said after the session he believed the car was capable of more than a Q1 exit.

“It all comes down to the last flying lap, and the feeling was good,” he said.

“Ended up getting blocked on my way out of the pit lane, which was a mess up because it was from the other (Alpine) car.

“Then I wasn’t able to do a final timed lap. That’s why they make the length of qualy that long, so you can do two laps and improve quite a lot on the second lap. I ended up being the last car out there, and didn’t get a chance to do a second lap.

“There was a lot more time in the car for the second lap. I guess we’ll never know though.”

The stuff-up was the last thing Doohan needed as rumours continue to swirl that the team is considering replacing him with Argentine Franco Colapinto.

Alpine team boss Oliver Oakes denied the rumours at the Miami Grand Prix, but his comments haven’t satisfied some F1 commentators.

When asked if Doohan will still be driving for the team at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy in two weeks’ time, Oakes said: “Today, it is the case”.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of people in Argentina who’d like him in the car this Sunday,” he said, per autosport.com.

“I think we’ve been pretty open as a team, and that’s just noise out there. Jack needs to continue doing a good job but I think obviously it’s natural that there’s always that speculation there.”

Jack Doohan finished P17.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the grid, Antonelli left some commentators shocked with his pole-position drive, becoming the youngest-ever driver to take pole in Formula One.

“It was a very intense qualifying. I felt really good since this morning and I felt good going into qualifying. I put everything together, so really happy to get the first pole,” said the teenager.

“Tomorrow will be nice to start on the front row, will be a bit of a different feeling.”

The rookie, who only passed his driving test in January, entered F1’s record books last month when he became the youngest driver to lead a race, breaking a record held by Max Verstappen from back in 2016 in Japan.

Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff was purring in the paddock after the stunning display from the Bologna born driver.

“He’s a young man... Hopefully we make a lot of fun in the future, a lot of happiness,” he said.

“It’s about the trajectory. It’s not whether it’s a pole in the sprint, or tomorrow, he has done it and he’s quickest.”

Antonelli’s British teammate George Russell had to settle for fifth place on the grid.

Miami GP Sprint Qualifying: Top 10

1) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

2) Oscar Piastri, McLaren

3) Lando Norris, McLaren

4) Max Verstappen, Red Bull

5) George Russell, Mercedes

6) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

7) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

8) Alex Albon, Williams

9) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls

10) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

Originally published as ‘It’s a joke’: Livid Aussie Jack Doohan blasts team with radio swipe