Haas driver Esteban Ocon helped to haul Jack Doohan out of the cockpit on Sunday as the Alpine driver struggled to climb out of his A525 machine in Parc Ferme conditions. The Japanese Grand Prix was a flat-out affair for the sport’s stars, with many expressing their exhaustion after the chequered flag.

Doohan had an eventful race, climbing from 19th on the grid to finish 15th. The Australian racer crossed the line ahead of a gaggle of cars hot in his heels, including Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson and Ocon. In-car camera footage showed Doohan struggling to climb out of his Alpine machine after parking up in Parc Ferme. He received assistance from a team engineer, while Haas racer Ocon came over to help the man who replaced him at Team Enstone.

After climbing out, Doohan walked towards the weigh-in area, limping while clutching his stomach. The 22-year-old was in visible discomfort and placed an arm around Ocon, who helped guide him towards the rest of the paddock.

Fans theorised that the Australian’s discomfort might have been linked to his heavy crash in FP2 on Friday. Doohan failed to close DRS at the end of the start-finish straight, sending his Alpine car into a high-speed spin as soon as he turned into Turn One. This resulted in heavy contact with the wall and substantial damage to the A525 machine.

Offering his thoughts on the crash, 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve told Sky Sports F1: “From what we hear, in the simulator, he was leaving it (DRS) open. But for no reason, because you’re going to have it open for, what, 10 meters? You don’t gain any speed.

“So it must have been laziness of not closing it, because, why? What are you going to hit? It’s a simulator. But then you get muscle memory, you get into a very bad habit. When you get to the real car, your focus, the corners are coming, you don’t think about what you have to do, you go by habit.”

Doohan was asked about the simulator theory directly after suffering a frustrating Q1 exit during qualifying on Saturday. However, the Alpine rookie was keen to brush off the incident and avoided answering Craig Slater’s question.

“To be honest, I would prefer not to touch on that and just sort of put that in the past and head forward tomorrow, with no disrespect,” he said firmly. “Thank you very much, though."