(Motorsport-Total.com) – In Melbourne, Alpine was still struggling to understand the car. Two qualifying sessions, a sprint, and a race later, the tide seems to have turned. Although there was still a disappointing 11th place for Pierre Gasly in the sprint, they seemed to have found something for qualifying that sent hopes for the race soaring after starting from 7th place.
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On Sunday, a 6th place for the Frenchman and a 10th place for Franco Colapinto followed. This makes a total haul of nine World Championship points. Although Gasly is happy about the strong result, he is also gritting his teeth quite a bit after the race.
“Deep down, the competitor in me is already a bit annoyed that we didn’t finish 5th. That was absolutely doable today,” the Alpine driver lamented after crossing the finish line. In fact, the Frenchman’s speed in Shanghai looked competitive in the midfield. His race pace ranked directly behind the Mercedes and the two Ferraris.
Midfield fight costs valuable time
In the first stint, he at least kept the lead group in sight. The fact that a safety car would sooner or later bunch the field back together with the new 2026 cars was already factored in at the pit wall. But of all times, the thread snapped at the restart. “For some reason, I lacked power, the boost failed to kick in,” Gasly recalled the decisive scene.
Oliver Bearman didn’t need to be asked twice and pulled ahead. Subsequently, Gasly got entangled in tough battles with Max Verstappen and other drivers in the midfield pack. This cost not only nerves but also time to Bearman.
However, Gasly was not discouraged by this and pulled out all the stops in the final section of the race. “I pushed as if every lap were a qualifying lap. That was really fun!” Although he was able to close the gap to Bearman to around 2.4 seconds at the end, he simply ran out of laps for a maneuver. (To the race report)
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Alpine benefits massively from retirements
But the truth is also that the Frenchman benefited massively from the double retirement of the McLarens. After all, two drivers who were directly ahead of him on the starting grid retired even before the start. And whether Verstappen could have been beaten if there hadn’t been a defect can at least be doubted. The gap between the Dutchman and Gasly did shrink, but it remained more than two seconds until the end.
On the other side of the garage, Franco Colapinto also rewarded himself with 10th place due to the retirements. His first World Championship point since the United States Grand Prix in October 2024 for Williams (To the Formula 1 database). But the Argentine was also self-critical: “A great day for us, but I’m also frustrated at the same time. I was hungry for more, but some things just didn’t go our way today.”
The fact that both drivers are complaining more about lost tenths despite the points haul is ultimately a hopeful sign of a possible upward trend: Alpine is once again trusting its own package significantly more.
Briatore promises to “push mercilessly”
Meanwhile, Flavio Briatore drew a consistently positive conclusion. For him, the result in Shanghai is proof that the hard work is paying off. “Nine points and both drivers in the top 10 – that’s a nice reward for the team. Both drivers did a great job,” the team principal praised.
But Briatore also knows how quickly the tide can turn again: “We know that this will be a pure development race. We will continue to push mercilessly with a view to Japan.” In addition, track-specific characteristics will likely continue to push the packages of other teams forward.
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