Pierre Gasly delivered a stunning recovery drive from 14th on the grid to finish seventh at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, extending his remarkable points-scoring streak that now covers every round of the 2026 season and reinforcing Alpine’s grip on fifth place in the constructors’ standings.
The 30-year-old Frenchman, whose only non-finish this year came through a collision with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson at the Miami Grand Prix, admitted the weekend was far from straightforward but praised the collective effort that allowed Alpine to maximize their result.
“You see all the stars? They’re all coming together at the moment,” Gasly said. “I’m very pleased. It was a very tough Saturday and it wasn’t an easy weekend for me behind the wheel. In the end we managed to find ourselves in the fight for best of the rest. With everything happening, we managed to get that P7 at the end of the day. The team did very good work. Good team work, so we couldn’t hope for any better.”
Gasly arrived in Barcelona buoyed by a successful Right of Review into his penalties at the Monaco Grand Prix, which saw him reinstated to third in the final classification — his first podium since 2024. That momentum was tested when teammate Franco Colapinto out-qualified him, but Alpine deployed team orders during the race to swap the drivers, allowing Gasly to close on the battles ahead and capitalize on retirements further up the field.
Gasly acknowledged that Alpine’s race pace significantly outperformed their one-lap speed but conceded the gap to the top four teams remains substantial. “We know at the minute we don’t have the performance to fight with the top four — the gap this weekend was actually very big,” he said. “We definitely need to work on that and try to close up, but looking at the positives, we did the best we could with both cars.”
Colapinto initially slotted in behind Gasly in eighth place after complying with the team order but was later hit with a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement, dropping him to 10th. The Argentine was gracious about the swap, backing the team’s strategic call.
“They had a much bigger picture from outside the car. It was a good decision, a team decision I think to score points with both cars,” Colapinto said. “I think it was a pretty decent race and a very strong result for the team. We’re pushing to stay strong and keep building up these points and the Championship position within the team.”
The double-points finish solidified Alpine’s hold on fifth in the constructors’ championship as the team prepares to head to Austria, where Gasly hopes for improved single-lap pace after struggling with braking at Turns 1 and 4 throughout the Barcelona weekend.