The Alpine team can look back on the Chinese GP with satisfaction. Both Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto finished in the top ten in Shanghai, which meant a double points finish for the French formation. Nevertheless, both drivers aimed for more than P6 and P10. Especially in the closing stages, it was made quite difficult for Gasly and Colapinto. In Enstone, the focus is on even more competitiveness in the upcoming Grands Prix.
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“On the one hand, I am very happy with all these points,” Pierre Gasly reacted afterwards. The Frenchman finished in sixth place. “We really had a solid weekend, actually right from sprint qualifying. Today I started from seventh position and had a very good start,” he concluded. “We were in a good position at the beginning, but unfortunately the safety car put us in a difficult position. Our race pace was very good, but halfway through the race it became difficult with all the traffic. I lost a lot of time there. Verstappen and Bearman drove away, so I really had to give three thousand percent at the end. I came back and it wasn’t much or I would have overtaken Bearman as well. We just need to improve a few more things.”
‘Great if you can overtake Verstappen’
Gasly was nevertheless satisfied with sixth place, equaling his best finish of 2025. Moreover, he was able to engage in battle with Max Verstappen. “It was tough, which I also expected from Max,” he reacted to the battle with his former teammate. “I’m going to watch the footage again, but that’s just how it goes in motorsport. Of course, it is satisfying when you overtake Max,” he grinned finally. “I think it would have been very nice to continue that fight.” Verstappen did not reach the finish line in China; with ten laps to go, he retired due to a technical problem.
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Franco Colapinto – who finished in P10 – meanwhile scored his first World Championship point for Alpine. With this, the team recorded its first double points finish since the 2024 São Paulo GP. Yet the Argentine had also hoped for more. A late collision with Esteban Ocon, however, threw a spanner in the works. “It was just a touché,” Colapinto nuanced the incident. “It was a fun race, we were able to fight a lot. Unfortunately, I did lose a number of points due to that contact. I would have liked to see it differently, but all in all, this is a good result for the team. I was just very unlucky today.” Nevertheless, Colapinto spoke of a successful weekend. “Now we just need to find a bit more pace.”
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Read everything about the Chinese GP here
