Jack Doohan was left incensed with his Alpine team after an error on their behalf sabotaged the Australian racer's attempts to escape the bottom five in sprint qualifying. The 22-year-old will start the Miami Grand Prix sprint from 17th on the grid. The under-fire Australian was attempting to make it into the second part of sprint qualifying, but was sent out into the path of team-mate Pierre Gasly in the pit lane, who was already in a strong position to advance.

This forced him to unwind the wheel slightly, leaving him stranded across the pit lane. By the time the Alpine engineers had wheeled him back, multiple cars had jumped him in the queue, jeopardising his final lap time. When the chequered flag dropped and the cars filtered through, Doohan was knocked out in 17th position.

"That's not acceptable," he fumed on the radio. "If you're going to send him after me, you have to make sure he's ready, or before me. I can't turn out and then have to turn out because he's going to run into me. And then you guys put me out of Q1. That's a joke!"

With such a low starting position, Doohan's chances of scoring his first points of the season in the sprint are slim. The 22-year-old is desperate to get off the mark with Franco Colapinto waiting in the wings to replace him if the opportunity arises.

Doohan was filmed ranting to his personal trainer on the way from the pit lane to the media pen, although the Alpine rookie was less scathing in his post-qualifying interview.

"It all comes down to the last flying lap, and the feeling was good," Doohan explained. "Ended up getting blocked on my way out of the pit lane, which was a mess up because it was from the other [Alpine] car. Then I wasn’t able to do a final timed lap.

"That’s why they make the length of quali that long, so you can do two laps and improve quite a lot on the second lap. I ended up being the last car out there, and didn’t get a chance to do a second lap. There was a lot more time in the car for the second lap. I guess we’ll never know, though."

Doohan's radio theatrics will no doubt catch the eyes of Oliver Oakes and Flavio Briatore. The former reiterated Alpine's commitment to the rookie when asked about the reports linking Colapinto to a drive at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which is the race after Sunday's bout in Miami.