Pierre Gasly’s Surprising Performance at the Formula 1 Brazil Grand Prix
Pierre Gasly found himself in an unexpected position of strength during the Formula 1 Brazil Grand Prix, delivering a performance that left both him and his team puzzled. The Alpine driver managed to secure a point by finishing eighth in the sprint race at Interlagos before qualifying ninth for the main event on Sunday. Gasly was just a tenth of a second behind fourth-placed Oscar Piastri in Q3, showcasing a significant improvement from previous races.
This turnaround comes after a challenging 2025 campaign for Alpine, which currently sits at the bottom of the championship standings and has not scored any points since Gasly finished 10th at Spa in July. When asked about his strong performance in Sao Paulo, Gasly admitted he was unsure of the exact reasons behind it.
“There are a few ideas, but the reality is we don’t fully know,” Gasly said. “I don’t want to say anything which might not be true. I know the guys are looking very deeply into it and it’s quite complicated, but we need some answers. At the moment we have a lot of questions, not many answers. Hopefully we’ll have some more in the coming weeks.”
Gasly expressed surprise at how quickly his performance had improved, noting that just two weeks prior in Mexico, he only finished above his teammate Franco Colapinto and Williams driver Carlos Sainz. In that race, Gasly was even a lap behind the leaders, including runner-up Charles Leclerc. However, in the Brazil sprint, he finished just three seconds behind the Ferrari in fifth place.
“After Mexico, the only time I saw Ferrari was when he blue flagged us,” said Gasly. “I didn’t expect to see that on a sprint race two weeks later. It just shows how much better we are here.”
He compared this sudden improvement to earlier in the year when he qualified fifth in Bahrain. Since then, Alpine has struggled with updates that failed to work as intended, leading the team to halt all car development to focus on 2026.
On whether his pace could be specific to Interlagos, Gasly said: “I think track characteristics play quite a big factor, but I cannot believe it’s only down to that, so we’ve got to understand more.”
Challenges for Franco Colapinto
While Gasly enjoyed a strong Saturday, his teammate Franco Colapinto faced a different experience. Colapinto crashed out of the sprint race and only managed to qualify 18th for Sunday’s grand prix—two spots lower than his sprint qualifying position.
“Generally, it just didn’t feel very comfortable to drive,” Colapinto said. “The team did a great job putting the car back together, it was very impressive. I was in qualifying, so I’m very grateful for it, but it just didn’t feel very good.”
“The performance of yesterday was not there as much today, and it’s what I struggled with. Pierre was very competitive, so it’s good to see that the car is fast, but we need to understand why he couldn’t extract the lap time.”
Looking Ahead
Despite the positive signs for Gasly, the overall performance of Alpine remains a concern. The team must find ways to consistently improve their results, especially as they look ahead to the 2026 season. With the right adjustments, there is hope that Gasly’s strong showing in Brazil could be the start of a more consistent run for the team.
