Pierre Gasly wanted a bit more in F1 Brazil GP after surprise run despite the car not performing well anywhere in recent times, as Franco Colapinto calls out Lance Stroll.
It was a surprise turnaround of performance from Alpine in F1 Brazil GP, especially at the hands of Gasly. He was not only on pace in sprint, but also in the main grand prix to secure two points finishes in one weekend. The team scored for the first time since the summer break.
He wasn’t as quick as other middle teams around, but still had decent pace to hang on. In the end, Gasly wanted a bit more than P10 in the end, especially after the start where he was fighting Oliver Bearman and George Russell. But nevertheless, he was pleased with the outcome.
“That will be the question to ask tonight,” started Gasly to media. “But I mean big picture, very happy because last time we scored points on a Sunday was in Spa before the summer break. And it’s been a very long walk in the middle of nowhere for three months. So I must say I was a lot more excited this morning coming into the race knowing that I had a car to race.
“And yeah, I mean strong weekend, Q3 one point in the sprint, one point in the race. Yeah, if I got to be honest here, I’m little disappointed with today because we took a great start, managed to pass Bearman, managed to pass Russell. Both occasions I’m losing the position in the straights, which would have put us in a much better track position for the rest of the race.
“And I managed to dive twice in the inside of Hadjar, but every time in the straight to Turn four, then he get past me very easily. So, feel like I had quite a lot more pace, just not really able to fully like show it, so yeah. I mean, at the end it’s one point and I’m definitely not going to complain about it because I would have taken it every single day since three months.
“But yeah, I’m sure we’ll have a look if we could have done anything different. But I do feel we had some more pace than we were able to show,” summed up Gasly, who thought they could have done slightly different with the strategy to maximise its chances of a higher finish. The degradation on soft was higher as for everyone and the team boxed early on the medium, where he could have gone longer.
“Well, this is what you do when you’re far up the pace, and trying to bank on the red flag or safety car at some point,” continued Gasly. “I just wanted to use the pace, which fortunately is not what I was able to do. But yeah, I think I struggled more on the soft than I felt, like everyone on soft had quite a lot of deg at the start. After I think we fit the new medium on the second stint, hoping to go a bit longer but unfortunately, we got pushed to box quite early.
“So, I did a short stint on the new tyre and a longer one on the used. So, it’s quite a, a few things to look back. But yeah, it’s one point and P10, yeah, for sure. Tyre deg. I mean, there was a lot of tyre deg, so we had quite a big delta of pace. And as soon as you offset yourself in terms of strategy, I think you had enough pace delta to get a better exit of the last corner. With the headwind, if someone had no DRS and you were behind with DRS, it was quite a big difference as well.
“So, I think, yeah, that’s the explanation. I must say, we expected maybe a little difference. But on our side, nothing. So yeah, I mean, I think they did a good job. And yeah, this I don’t know if fortunately or unfortunately, we didn’t have these crazy conditions we’ve had last year. But yeah, I think it did what it, what they needed, they wanted it to do, so,” summed up Gasly, who was part of the train of cars behind Liam Lawson.
There will be anaylsis as to why Alpine made the difference in Brazil, whether it was track characteristics or the own form of Gasly at Interlagos. The Frenchman noted that he was able to drive the way he wanted to, which hasn’t been the case off-late. He feels it was not just one thing, but variable factors which played a role in the result.
“I mean, it’s very different conditions, but no, I think my driving this weekend, I was able to drive in a way that I want,” said Gasly. “The car was responding to what I expect the car to do, and we had a lot more potential. In quali, to be less than five tenths from the McLaren knowing the package we have, it just showed there was something, like…we were actually very competitive in the corners. And I was pleased the car was responding to my input, and there was nothing really very strange.
“So, it’s what I expect from a race car. And I think most important from the weekend, obviously like one point is not going to change my life, neither the life of the team. But I think it’s just important in the bigger picture to understand where that entire potential came from, and where it was the last few weekends. And for sure, it must be track characteristic as well. But there is more to it, I think, which we need to, to analyse.
“I mean, everything’s got to be analysed. I think it’s rarely down to one single factor. It’s probably a lot of small things added together which makes a bigger difference. And I mean, for me it was night and day with what I felt since three months. So, yeah, I’ll take it, and I must say, it put a bigger smile on my face this morning waking up knowing that I was going into the race with something that was going to give me a chance to actually fight for something,” summed up Gasly.
Teammate Colapinto didn’t have the same pace on a weekend where he was confirmed to be part of the line-up at Alpine for 2026 F1 season. The crash in sprint race compromised his situation, considering that he had to run old parts in repaired car. He didn’t find same pace as Gasly. Also, he did not have great words for Aston Martin’s Stroll when asked about the Lap 1 incident.
The Canadian’s minor move resulted in a crash for Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto in his home race. The Brazilian toned down on blaming Stroll, but Colapinto didn’t. “Stroll is just always taking people out, just not looking in the mirrors, leaving no track, and he put Gabi in the wall,” he said to media. “It’s what he does every time.”
Here’s Liam Lawson leading the pack: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-sao-paulo-grand-prix-p7-lawson-leads-eight-car-train-over-the-line.1848340684106498401
