A scary F1 rookie mistake in Japan. Plus, Yuki Tsunoda's solid Red Bull debut

New York Times

04-04-2025

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Welcome back to Prime Tire, where we have a lot of Formula One to cover: A big rookie mistake, Japanese Grand Prix practice and an ominous portal. I'm Patrick, and Luke Smith will be along shortly. Let's dive in.
We had barely begun FP2 from Suzuka last night when Jack Doohan had a frightening crash.
Doohan, the 22-year-old Alpine rookie, built up speed for his first push lap. He flicked his Drag Reduction System (DRS) on to build speed. He barreled down the main straight, approaching Turn 1 at more than 200 mph. And …
A post shared by FORMULA 1® (@f1)
First off, the important bit: Alpine and Doohan confirmed after the session that he's okay.
But what happened? Folks … he didn't turn his DRS off before he entered the corner. Don't believe me?
🧐 COMPUTER, ENHANCE! 🧐
So here's the deal: DRS works by opening a flap on the rear wing that reduces drag and gives drivers more straight-line speed. It's fantastic for overtaking on straights.
But in speedy corners, you need downforce (the magical thing pushing the car into the ground so you can actually turn). When DRS opens, you sacrifice a huge chunk of your rear downforce for more speed.
This means:
(Check out our DRS explainer here.)
When Doohan entered the high-speed Turn 1 with the DRS flap open, it made the rear of the car really excited to become the front of the car. Bam. Into the wall. Let's not mince words: That is a scary, scary crash at super-high speed. This why F1 cars automatically close the DRS flap when drivers brake or release the activation button. But the driver has do do those things.
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So what does this tell us? I don't think Doohan forgot to close DRS. Doohan was pushing — in the simulator, he might have learned he could carry a little more DRS speed into the corner. In real life, he misjudged. (He's never raced an F1 car at Suzuka before.)
While it's natural for any F1 driver to push his car to the limits on any given lap, Doohan is under some extra pressure. We've written on it before:
As we've learned in the past 10 days with Liam Lawson and Red Bull, windows to prove yourself can shut quickly in F1. In trying to make the most of his yesterday, Doohan instead made a costly mistake.
Some takeaways from FP1 and FP2 …
McLaren is looking terrifyingly quick around the figure-eight track, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri trading places at the top of the timesheets. The papaya cars are absolutely rapid right now. Charles Leclerc became the latest to say McLaren is 'on another planet' compared to everyone else.
FP2 was basically a mess of red flags and brief bursts of actual driving:
Oh, you wanted to see the fire.
THE GRASS IS ON FIRE (yes, again) pic.twitter.com/7gmDBSKkVn
— Holiness (@F1BigData) April 4, 2025
Told you there was a portal.
Mercedes is lurking dangerously close to the front, too, with George Russell particularly quick. (Luke wrote why he needs a new contract — more on that in a second.) Don't sleep on them for qualifying — they could absolutely spoil McLaren's party if the wind changes direction (which it's predicted to do).
Max Verstappen and Red Bull still have things to sort — he said 'a lot of things are not clicking.' On a track where you need complete trust in your machine to attack those sweeping esses, that's a problem.
Meanwhile, there's the whole Tsunoda-to-Red Bull drama playing out. For more on that, here's Luke.
All eyes were obviously on Yuki Tsunoda for his maiden on-track appearance as a Red Bull driver on Friday at Suzuka. And so far, he's been doing a good job. I wrote about his first days at the team this week.
The remit from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner to Tsunoda was to get as close as possible to Max Verstappen. In FP1, Tsunoda lapped just one-tenth of a second off Verstappen, getting closer than Liam Lawson did at any point in the opening two race weekends.
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I spent most of FP1 tuned in to Tsunoda's radio, and the chatter back and forth with his race engineer was fascinating. They regularly exchanged comments about the car setup and balance when Tsunoda wasn't on a hot lap. Tsunoda said at one stage, he didn't want to change anything on the car as he wanted to keep the reference point he had, but he was quite specific in terms of balance changes, particularly at the rear of the car.
For Tsunoda to be on the pace immediately compared to Verstappen is an encouraging sign for Red Bull. But the way he has handled getting the seat — basically, owning it — is perhaps an even better sign of the fit he will be. We'll only know for sure come qualifying tomorrow just how close he is, but so far, so good.
Lawson spoke to the media this week about Red Bull dropping him to Racing Bulls after two races. It was fascinating to watch his body language in the news conference. Madeline Coleman wrote:
💬 Asked whether the demotion was in his best interests or whether it had damaged his confidence, Lawson's response reflected a self-assured attitude as he continued to navigate the tricky topic. By contrast, his responses to other questions were mixed with 'uh' and 'uhm.'
She did a good job sifting through his (and Red Bull's) assessments of the situation this week. And asked the important question: Can Lawson return to Red Bull? Read it all here.
F1's long history with champagne
Ever wondered why F1 drivers spray champagne after making the podium? Luke went inside the tradition, which is back this year. That's right — the last four years, drivers were spraying sparkling wine!
George Russell is out of a contract after this season, but he's off to a terrific start so far. Astute observation by Luke this week that, until he re-signs, fans will wonder whether the 'Verstappen to Mercedes' links will resurface.
No live blog from us, as the race will be at 1 a.m. ET on Sunday. But you should still bookmark our track breakdown!
Finally, if you were wondering why Red Bull is in white this weekend, here's the backstory.
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