For his first official outing at the wheel of the Alpine A524 as part of a free practice session, Australian Jack Doohan did not have much luck with more than limited driving this Friday in Montreal due to the weather conditions.
Just before the start of the first free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix, a heavy downpour fell on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, which forced the race management to start the session at the scheduled time while leaving the pit lane closed to allow circuit employees to evacuate standing water on certain parts of the circuit.
The session was shortened by 30 minutes, but Doohan was able to take to the track with the Alpine fitted with Intermediate tires, before a red flag once again disrupted the teams’ work.
Finally, Jack Doohan did not complete any time this Friday and the Australian could not hide his frustration at the end of the day: “ These EL1s were not the most exciting for me, with limited driving due to the weather conditions. »
“The forecast also looked uncertain for the rest of the weekend, so it was important to preserve and maintain sets of tires in case the rain persisted. »
“We were able to do a wet tire installation tour to make sure the car was working well. When the track dried at the end, we finished with an exit lap on soft tires before practice starts. »
“We still managed to collect useful data. The weather is out of our control, but we ultimately took full advantage of what we could given the conditions. »
During EL2 contested in the afternoon, the conditions were better than in the morning and the two starting drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were able to catch up by completing numerous laps on slick tires, before the rain returned. at the end of the session.
