Alpine’s Monza Surprise: More Than Just Pole Position

Jamile Barcelos takes a look into a surprisingly memorable weekend for Alpine at the Italian Grand Prix, after Pierre Gasly clinched his first-ever pole position.

Feature image credit: Alpine

After starting from the first pole position of his career, Pierre Gasly finished seventh in the Italian Grand Prix.

Although unable to turn pole into a win, the Frenchman was still happy with his result. Before the race, Gasly and Alpine already knew that their race pace would make it extremely difficult to stay ahead and fight with the top teams. In the end, that is exactly what happened.

The Alpine was quick enough over one lap to surprise everyone on Saturday, but the gap to the front-runners became much harder to hide throughout the race. 

Gasly had a strong start and managed to keep the lead through the opening lap, before George Russell passed him on the second lap. After the red flag, Gasly restarted in second and was able to fight with some of the top drivers before eventually dropping back. He also battled with McLaren’s Lando Norris before finishing just three seconds behind  Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.

For a team that was not expected to fight at the front, Gasly saw the result as another sign that Alpine is moving in the right direction.

His teammate Franco Colapinto had a more eventful race. The Argentine made a strong start, moving up to fourth before the red flag. At the restart, he passed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to briefly move into third. It looked like Alpine could have two cars fighting among the top positions, but Colapinto soon ran wide through the gravel, dropping down the order.

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He managed to recover and finish ninth, bringing home two more points for the team.

Alpine’s most important results under its current name include Esteban Ocon’s victory at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, the team’s first win as Alpine, and its double podium at the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, where Ocon finished second and Pierre Gasly third. The team also finished fourth in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship.

That makes Gasly’s pole at Monza even more interesting.

According to the Frenchman, some members of the Enstone team have been working there for years without ever experiencing a pole position. He described returning to Enstone after the weekend as something that should be special for the whole team.

The result on Sunday may not have matched the dream created by Saturday’s qualifying, but perhaps that is not the most important part. Alpine still has work to do on its race pace and tyre performance, something Gasly also highlighted after the race. However, Monza showed that the team can put itself in the right place when everything comes together.

The next step will be turning those occasional moments of brilliance into something more consistent.

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Jamile Barcelos

Jamile Barcelos