Jack shows speed before Monaco mishap 🇲🇨
Jack Doohan has emerged fortunate but frustrated from a mid-race crash in the FIA Formula 2 Feature race in Monaco, the Australian lucky to escape without injury after a heavy accident while running in a strong fourth place.
After qualifying fourth on Friday, Jack held position off the start on Sunday at a circuit where passing is close to impossible, and had front-running trio Frederick Vesti (Prema Racing) and French ART teammates Victor Martins and Theo Pourchaire well within reach before hitting the barriers at high speed at Turn 3 (Massenet) on lap 22.
Jack quickly got out of his Invicta Virtuosi Racing car before it burst into flames, the fiery wreck prompting the race to be red-flagged before being restarted 20 minutes later.
Jack explained that contact with the barriers at Tabac (Turn 12) on the previous lap played a significant part in his non-finish.
"I'm just glad to be all OK," he said.
"I somehow lost three seconds under the virtual safety car (laps 19-20), and then just pushed too hard trying to make it up, which caused the first touch of the wall. Then when it fully cracked under load at the top of the hill, it just spun straight away."
It was an abrupt ending to a weekend of progress for the 20-year-old, who came to Monaco after topping the timesheets on two days of a three-day test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain after the previous F2 round in Azerbaijan in late April.
"I'm very disappointed of course, but I couldn't be happier to be back comfortable with the car and fighting for where we should be," he said.
In Saturday's 30-lap Sprint race, where Jack started from seventh place as the top 10 from qualifying line up in reverse grid order, Jack gained a place to finish sixth and score three world championship points. Jack gained an extra point when he set the fastest lap of the race (1min 22.819secs) with three laps remaining.
Jack sits in 13th place in the drivers championship with 28 points after 10 of this season's 26 races, with F2 back in action next week in Barcelona on the support race bill for the Spanish Grand Prix (June 2-4).
Last year in Spain, Jack took pole position, finished second and set the fastest lap of the Feature race, and came home sixth in the Sprint.
FIA Formula 2 World Championship: Round 5 Monaco results
Sprint race (30 laps): Started 7th, finished 6th
Feature race (42 laps): Started 4th, did not finish
2023 F2 World Championship standings: 28 points (13th overall)
Next F2 event: Barcelona, Spain (June 2-4)