After a rather underwhelming weekend in Australia, Alpine bounced back strongly at the Chinese Grand Prix, delivering a performance that exceeded expectations across the board. Pierre Gasly was a consistent presence in the midfield fight from Friday onwards, ultimately sealing an impressive sixth-place finish in Sunday’s race. On the other side of the garage, Franco Colapinto also showed clear progress, crossing the line in tenth position to secure his first points of the 2025 Formula 1 season.
The Argentine driver had made a particularly strong start to the race, but his afternoon was compromised in the latter stages following contact with the Haas of Esteban Ocon. As a result, Colapinto admitted after the race that he could not be entirely satisfied with the final outcome, despite the encouraging signs shown throughout the weekend.
Gasly: “Bearman and I will often fight this year”
One of the standout performers throughout the Shanghai weekend was Pierre Gasly, who consistently remained inside the top ten from the opening practice sessions and went on to finish sixth in the Grand Prix. The French driver capitalized early on the opportunity presented by the absence of the two McLarens, both forced to retire before the race even started, and then delivered a composed and competitive race in which he extracted the maximum potential from his Alpine A526.
“Part of me is really satisfied with sixth place, but there’s another side that’s quite frustrated because fifth was within reach,” Gasly said after the race. “Up until the Safety Car we had better pace than Bearman, then in the middle of the race I lost a bit of ground. But after overtaking a few cars I pushed really hard to try and catch Max and Ollie. In the end I didn’t lose too much, and it’s still a fantastic result for the team. I’m happy to see that we have the speed to fight for these positions.”
Thanks to the double McLaren retirement, Alpine also established itself as the leading Mercedes customer team for the weekend. “Colapinto’s points are also very important,” Gasly added. “I think we showed strong pace throughout the entire weekend, with seventh place in Sprint Qualifying and seventh again in the main qualifying session.”
The Frenchman also revealed that he encountered some issues during the Safety Car restart phase. “I lost the boost and the pressure, so when Ollie got close behind me I couldn’t defend and he simply overtook me,” he explained. “I would have liked to fight him a bit more, but I think that will happen quite often this year.”
Colapinto: “Shame about the incident with Ocon, but I’m improving”
Further confirmation of Alpine’s competitiveness in China came from Franco Colapinto, who delivered an encouraging performance throughout the weekend. The Argentine made an excellent start, climbing from twelfth on the grid to slot in just behind his teammate in the early stages of the race.
When the Safety Car was deployed on lap 10 following an incident involving Lance Stroll, Colapinto opted not to pit as he had started on the hard compound tyres. This strategic choice allowed him to run in the higher positions for several laps, showcasing both his pace and race management.
However, the second half of the race proved more challenging. On lap 33, Colapinto found himself battling Esteban Ocon—who was on a similar strategy—for eighth place. A mistake from the Haas driver triggered contact between the two cars, resulting in a spin for both drivers and ultimately costing Colapinto valuable points.
“It was a fun race with him, we fought hard and made some nice moves,” said the Alpine driver. “It’s a shame it ended like that, that contact cost me two points and it’s not what I wanted. It was a complicated afternoon. It’s positive to bring points home for the team, but it could have been much better. I did what I could, but I was really unlucky.”
Despite the setback, Colapinto leaves Shanghai with increased confidence in his performance and a better feeling with the car. “I had a really poor start to the weekend, but in the end I managed to be very fast. We need to find more performance, but it’s definitely an improvement,” he concluded.
Briatore: “This result shows we can fight for points regularly”
At the end of the race in Shanghai, Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance. “Scoring nine points is a great result for the team and a well-deserved reward for everyone back in Enstone. These are our first double points of the season, and it shows that the team can be competitive and fight for points on a regular basis.”
The Italian manager is now looking ahead with confidence to the upcoming rounds. “We know this will be a development race and the hard work doesn’t stop here. We will keep pushing ahead of Japan and the following races to stay on the right path.”
Briatore also took a moment to reflect on a historic achievement, as Kimi Antonelli’s victory brought back memories of the last Italian driver to win in Formula 1. “Congratulations to Kimi on his first Formula One victory. It’s the first win for an Italian driver since Fisichella achieved it with us back in 2006.”
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