Doohan copped a penalty in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix for a move on Isack Hadjar in the closing stages.
Looking to move underneath the Racing Bulls under brakes at the Turn 14 hairpin, the Alpine driver locked up and skated wide of the apex.
That forced Hadjar to leave the circuit as he took evasive action while Doohan seized what was 15th place.
Investigated by officials, it was deemed the Australian had lost control of his car in the move.
As a result, he was handed a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points, his second such infringement of the weekend.
In Saturday’s Sprint, Doohan received the same punishment when he skittled Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto on the final lap.
While the Alpine rookie was last to the line on Saturday, meaning his time penalty had no impact on his result, it cost him two places on Sunday.
It also means that, in a single event, the 22-year-old accumulated four of the allowed 12 penalty points on his Super Licence.
“I’m going to have to revisit it because I don’t want to be getting penalties on a regular basis,” Doohan confessed.
“Giving away two places like that – no points for 14th or 16th – however it definitely feels a bit better.”
Doohan was ultimately elevated to 13th following the exclusions of Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and his Alpine teammate, Pierre Gasly.
The Frenchman had crossed the line 11th, more than 20 seconds ahead of Doohan after 56 laps of racing.
“We were lacking a bit of pace in general, but to pick up four spots, head forward, to keep the VCARB behind for 20-odd laps, a car that was a Q3 car… They had solid pace,” Doohan reasoned.
“We have to be happy with that.”
Tyre management was a critical element across the weekend with a new surface in Shanghai offering strong grip, but at the cost of extreme degradation.
It made following difficult and overtaking harder than usual, even with an extended DRS zone down the long back straight.
“On the hard stint, we were able to close up to the group in front quite quickly,” Doohan said, having started on the medium tyres.
“When Alex [Albon] came out after his pit stop and the other cars coming past on fresh tyres, you lose on average about two seconds when you get overtaken by those cars.
“That just was hurting the tyres – plus falling back a bit from Pierre.
“But I think on average, we’re quite similar, I think especially on one lap pace, plus or minus a tenth depending on the session.
“There’s a lot of positives to take forward. I just have to refresh myself, fill in the driver guidelines so I stop having any issues.”
With Doohan classified 13th and Gasly excluded, Alpine left China empty-handed.
It remains the only team yet to get off the mark in 2025.
Discussion about this post