Doohan crashed heavily in Japan after banking just four laps of running in Free Practice 2, ripping two wheels from the car in the impact.
The Australian headed into the 2024 season against a backdrop of speculation that claimed he was set to be given only a handful of races to prove himself before being replaced by Franco Colapinto.
Though he crashed on the opening lap of the Australian Grand Prix, Doohan had impressed team bosses with his composed build-up through the weekend.
A tougher event followed in China, where he had limited practice running due to the Sprint format.
Clashes in both the Sprint and main race earned him penalties.
For Japan, Doohan was forced to sit out the opening hour in favour of Ryo Hirakawa before finally climbing into the car for Free Practice 2.
Secure your spot today.
He logged just four laps before crashing to draw a lengthy red flag.
With Colapinto waiting in the wings, Villeneuve suggested that the incident came from a sense of desperation within Doohan that has affected his driving.
“The problem is, he’s known before the first race that he probably would not finish this season,” Villeneuve told Sky Sports.
“He’s been put under tremendous pressure by Flavio [Briatore] mainly, with Colapinto there in the wing, and the writing was on the wall.
“His driving has been one of desperation, having to prove that he’s at least better than [Pierre] Gasly so they should keep him, when he’s already been told that, hmm, look, you know, do a few races, but then you’ll probably be replaced.
“You can see it in his driving.
“It’s not comfortable. It’s really not comfortable when the driver is in that situation.
“Even psychologically, the driving will not be natural, and small mistakes will start happening.”
The reason for Doohan’s crash was not immediately obvious.
As he turned into the ultra-fast right-hander to open the lap, the back of the car came around quickly, leaving him with no chance of recovery.
What caused the back to come around remains unknown, with suggestions Doohan left his DRS open at turn in, or that the car bottomed out on the newly resurfaced tarmac.
“You can tell that he was very, very aggressive when he turned in,” said Villeneuve, who was watching from Turn 1 when the crash happened.
“He didn’t have the laps this morning, so he went in with a lot of confidence, but with the tailwind, maybe his tyres weren’t ready.
“He’s on the hard tyres and he got caught because you see that the car pivoted so quickly.
“He threw the car in. He didn’t, he didn’t massage the car into the corner.”
Following the impact, Doohan took his time climbing from the car before gingerly walking away with medical staff.
Alpine subsequently confirmed to Speedcafe that the 22-year-old was okay and that the damage to his car was being assessed.
“It looks aggressive,” Villeneuve added.
“It looks just a tiny bit too much.
“Would have been okay in normal conditions, with the tyres really warm, no tailwind.
“But the team with the data might see that maybe the suspension failed, that’s something we cannot really see now.
“But it looked very aggressive, and the way it pivoted right away was very surprising.”
Discussion about this post