Pierre Gasly says his P7 at Suzuka should give Alpine a welcome lift after a “long, intense race” in which he held off Max Verstappen for much of the grand prix. Gasly, who moved up to eighth in the Drivers’ Championship, described the result as “good motivation” for the team following a tricky start to the season.
After scoring only one point in Melbourne (P10), Alpine have shown clearer progress with P6 in Shanghai and P7 in Japan, taking the team toward the front of the midfield. At Suzuka Gasly fought hard, duelling with his former team-mate Verstappen for large parts of the race. Verstappen briefly got past, but Gasly recovered the position and resisted repeated pressure. “It was a long, intense race, especially after the Safety Car,” he said. “In the second part this guy would not leave my heels all the way through! I had to check on him five times a lap to judge the gap, push as hard as I could and avoid mistakes, nailing every exit.”
The race performance underlined encouraging pace for Alpine: they finished roughly seven seconds behind Lewis Hamilton and about 18 seconds clear of Liam Lawson in P9, suggesting the team sat in the stronger midfield train on the day. Gasly believes that consistency across different circuits is a positive sign. “We clearly have a good package, and I’m glad we managed to get a good result at three very different tracks,” he said.
The midfield battle remains tight. Haas sit fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, two points ahead of Alpine; Red Bull are level with Alpine on points, with another rival just behind. Gasly acknowledged the gap to the leaders is still significant but not insurmountable: “The gap to the guys ahead is too big to fight, but it is not too big to make it impossible. It’s important we keep working on it.”
Gasly will spend time at the factory in the coming weeks, hoping the Suzuka performance lifts morale and builds momentum for the next rounds.