Pierre Gasly secured his third consecutive Q3 appearance, delivering yet another impressive result. But behind this strong performance lies an intriguing detail: the team treated the sprint race as an open-air laboratory. After completely changing the setup, Pierre Gasly effectively tested qualifying in the final laps of the sprint, gathering valuable data.
There is a curious aspect to Gasly’s third consecutive Q3: just a few months ago, it would have seemed almost impossible. The Alpine A525 has not received significant upgrades for some time and has remained largely unchanged since the first races of the season. Yet, as seen last year, the French car performs better on certain tracks, and Gasly is skilled at seizing these opportunities.
This was already evident in Brazil, where Pierre Gasly scored points in both the Sprint and the full-length Sunday race. Or in Las Vegas, where Alpine surprised everyone in 2024 by securing an impressive second row in qualifying. In Qatar, Pierre Gasly recorded his third consecutive top-10 in qualifying, with a curious twist: he chose to test the qualifying setup during the sprint race.
Alpine’s early struggles and setup adjustments
At the start of the weekend, Alpine seemed incapable of competing for a strong result. The drivers faced significant technical difficulties, compounded by execution issues, such as starting the last lap on cold tires with a clear lack of grip.
Beyond execution, it was evident that the A525 lacked something in terms of setup. Alpine tends to excel in fast corners that demand high precision from the front end. After a poor qualifying session, the team decided to intervene with both drivers by modifying the car’s setup, mainly on the mechanical side, starting from the pit lane.
The sprint race as a data-gathering opportunity
More than a chance to chase points, the sprint represented a valuable opportunity to collect data. This approach mirrors what Lewis Hamilton did with Ferrari, using practice sessions to guide setup decisions for the remainder of the weekend.
There’s an even more interesting detail about Pierre Gasly’s sprint race. Near the end, with fuel levels low, Alpine called him in to fit soft tires—a choice that might have seemed illogical at first but actually aimed to simulate qualifying conditions for the evening session.
After returning to the track, Pierre Gasly treated the penultimate lap as a real qualifying outlap, managing energy and preparing the tires. Just before the final corner, as in official qualifying, he activated the qualifying engine map. This not only gave him the fastest lap of the sprint but also allowed the team to gather crucial data ahead of parc fermé reopening.
It could be argued that teams already had data from the previous day. However, several teams completely changed their setups after the sprint, so even a single lap provided important insights into tire behavior on low fuel and soft compounds.
Gasly praises Alpine’s progress
“I have to say I’m very, very happy with the team. We changed quite a bit. Yesterday we had a lot of bouncing issues and some other problems. This morning, starting from the pit lane in the Sprint Race, the car felt much better. Tonight, the car definitely made a big step forward compared to yesterday,” Pierre Gasly said after qualifying.
“The car was much more fun to drive, I managed to put together some good laps, and I had good confidence. It was a nice surprise for us because we thought we had improved, but not to this extent. We did a great job,” he concluded.
From pit-lane starters to top-ten shooters in less than 24 hours – that’s what clever, aggressive thinking looks like when the upgrade cupboard is bare.
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