Doohan comes through practice crash to finish the job at Suzuka

Jack Doohan's Japanese Grand Prix started in near disaster when he spun off the track in practice and slammed his Alpine into a wall at more than 330 kph but he brushed himself down and finished the weekend with a creditable drive for 15th.

The Australian, the son of five-time motorcycling world champion Mick, started the race in 19th and Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes said the rookie had done a "good job" in a race where there was very little overtaking.

"It was good to get another full race distance under my belt and continue to gain experience and understanding of the package," said Doohan.

"It was positive to move forward at a track that's difficult to overtake and the race pace also felt strong despite no high fuel running."

Doohan's crash was caused by his DRS being left open as he went into turn one at Suzuka and carefully chosen words along with diplomatic silences have left it unclear whether that was a driver decision or something he had discussed with the team.

"I would prefer not to touch on that. I just want to put that in the past," Doohan said after qualifying.

Video of Doohan needing help to get out of his car after Sunday's race has been portrayed in the Australian media as evidence that he was more badly injured in Friday's crash than he or the team let on.

The team said after the accident that Doohan had been given the okay to continue his race weekend after medical checks.

The bookmakers consider Doohan the most likely driver to lose his seat this season after he crashed out on debut in his home race in Australia and finished 13th in his second grand prix in China.

Next week in the fourth round of the season, the championship lands back in Bahrain, where Alpine showed some encouraging pace in pre-season testing.

"We will take a couple of days between races to rest and recover," the 22-year-old said.

"I'm looking forward to going again in Bahrain where the conditions will be completely different again."

LAWSON'S ROAD BACK LOOKS A LITTLE LONGER AFTER SUZUKA

A fortnight that must rank as the most dispiriting of Liam Lawson's young Formula One career ended with a 17th-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix and his Racing Bulls teammate fielding questions about a potential move up to Red Bull.

The 23-year-old New Zealander made that same move at the end of last season only to be summarily dumped after two races last week in a driver switch that saw Yuki Tsunoda promoted to partner world champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull.

Any pleasure Lawson took from outqualifying Tsunoda on Saturday would have dissipated pretty quickly in Sunday's race when a mistake on the opening lap allowed the Japanese driver to swoop past him and into 13th place.

With overtaking otherwise tricky, Racing Bulls decided to give Lawson an extended stint before pitting in the hope that a yellow flag might give him an opportunity to creep up the field.

The race was all but incident free, however, and Lawson crossed the line in 17th place with only three cars behind him.

"It was a tough start, lap one was really tricky. We’ll obviously learn from that," Lawson said.

"We went really long, and I guess, tried something. It just didn't really work.

"I'll keep building. I'm getting used to the car, and pushing it. We had good pace throughout the weekend, unfortunately not when we needed to.

"There's always positives to take away from it."

One might be that having qualified 18th and failed to finish in Australia, before qualifying last in China, Lawson did at least make the cut for the second qualifying session at Suzuka.

A negative in the cut-throat world of Formula One would surely be the performance in the other Racing Bulls car of French rookie Isack Hadjar, who qualified in seventh place and finished eighth.

Hadjar laughed when asked if he would entertain a promotion to Red Bull after earning his first points in his third Formula One race, replying, "I would never refuse a call, that's for sure, but let's see."

Lawson said before the race that a potential future return to Red Bull was "part of the conversation" when he was demoted, but he will need better performances from the Bahrain race next week if he is to stay in that picture.