F1 team issue apology after bizarre red flag at Chinese Grand Prix

Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Jack Doohan, Red Bull, McLaren, Alpine, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Chinese Grand Prix

F1 team issue apology after bizarre red flag at Chinese Grand Prix

Alpine suffered a bizarre incident

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 21 March 2025 17:51

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Alpine Formula 1 team have issued an apology following a bizarre incident during Chinese Grand Prix practice that caused a late red flag to the session.

Jack Doohan appeared to completely lose power in the car, managing to safely navigate the Alpine off the track to avoid any further damage.

Where the car was positioned near the end of the FP1 session, however, was deemed to be dangerous enough for the stewards to throw out a red flag, hampering drivers' and teams' running in the only practice session of the weekend.

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Doohan is hoping for a better weekend than at his home grand prix in Australia last time out where he crashed out in the wet conditions in his first race since becoming a full-time F1 driver.

Under pressure Doohan hampered by Alpine issue

With the Chinese GP being the first sprint weekend of the season, drivers were only given one hour of practice before competitive action began later the same day with sprint qualifying.

It means that Doohan may have been significantly hampered by the incident, through no fault of his own, as he failed to get in any laps on the soft tyre ahead of sprint qualifying.

The 22-year-old Aussie is said to be under immediate pressure to keep his seat at Alpine, after the team decided to sign 2024 star Franco Colapinto to their ranks as a reserve driver, with the Argentine present at both race weekends of the year so far.

After the session, Alpine took to social media to apologise for the incident, vowing to get Doohan back in the car later in the day.

"After stopping out on track, this is a sight we don’t want to see during a session," they said in a post on X.

"This one is on us. We’ll look to find the cause of the stoppage and rectify for later."

Doohan recovered to finish ahead of his team-mate Pierre Gasly in sprint qualifying, but that still resulted in an SQ1 exit, and he will start Saturday's sprint down in 16th.

After stopping out on track, this is a sight we don’t want to see during a session.

This one is on us. We’ll look to find the cause of the stoppage and rectify for later. pic.twitter.com/subtxntzyx
— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) March 21, 2025