Pierre Gasly is fine to score double points in F1 British GP, but felt Alpine let down operationally which cost them more points in tight midfield fight.
Having had a good run at the start of the F1 2026 season, Alpine has fallen back behind Racing Bulls in the fight for fifth in the constructors’ championship. The development race has helped their rivals, with even Audi at par with the French outfit, if not better than them.
Alpine has some respite from others, due to their own issues at Haas and Williams. That has kept their fight against Racing Bulls mainly, with Audi popping up at odd races. In F1 British GP, it was the case. Not only Gasly lost to the two Racing Bulls car, but also to Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Gasly felt too many issues in F1 British GP operationally
He was 10th in the end behind teammate Franco Colapinto, due to a slow pit stop. After a penalty for impeding Lance Stroll in qualifying due to radio failure, Gasly feels the team has to do well operationally to score points, especially when they are not fast enough at the moment.
Alpine wouldn’t have scored if not for the incidents for Max Verstappen and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. “Yeah, I mean, big story, doesn’t matter, it’s three points for the team,” said Gasly in the print media pen after F1 British GP race. “Obviously, personally, I’m not very happy with the way it just panned out.
“Because we were ahead by three seconds, and then [I had] a slow stop, which would mean, you are in traffic with two other cars. And then after the pit stop, I exited six seconds behind. It’s a position, P9, P10, for the team it’s the same, but P9, P10 for me is not the same.”
Gasly will speak with the team on it
He will discuss the operational errors with the team to make it better. “We’ll speak, I think, ultimately, that’s not really, I think it’s just a bit of…in qualifying, we had an issue with the radio, which got me the penalty with Stroll, and then in the race, an issue at the pit stop, and then a few other things, which are costing us a bit of performance, which I think all add up together,” he said.
“At the end of the day, we need to find more performance, because even in three at the start, I was struggling to follow Bortoleto and the VCARB. So it’s a good damage limitation, but we need to find more pace,” summed up Gasly, who isn’t sure where he would be without the penalty.
Gasly thought he could have fought Bortoleto if not pass him
He had a three-place drop, which means he started not only behind Colapinto but also the two Audi cars of Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg. The German’s retirement helped a bit but both the Argentine and the Brazilian had enough pace to stay ahead of the pack.
Gasly thought he could have at least fight with Bortoleto, if not for the issues. “I mean…I guess we’ll never know, but… I think Bortoleto, on pure pace was too fast,” he said. “If we start in front, maybe you never know, but I think, at best, maybe there was Bortoleto to have a fight with him.
“But I’m not even sure we would have been able to be ahead of him. I think, overall, we’re just…we saw in quali, we saw in the Sprints, and others are making bigger steps forward, and I think the bottom line is we need more performance,” summed up Gasly, who thought overtaking was difficult.
Massive difference between PU, cars in F1 British GP
The Frenchman felt the Sprint was maybe a bit easier, but in the race, it was difficult to overtake due to the engine difference alone. He wants to see the race to understand if it was the same across.
“Yeah, I mean, I was definitely… I had a few laps after the pit stop with Sainz, which we had different deployments, and then it’s like one straight, you pass very fast, and then after you’re stuck with the next straight, then you overtake again, and then…it was a little awkward, but…yeah, eventually, made it worked,” said Gasly.
“I don’t know, I need to watch the race again to see a bit what happened with the other cars, but it’s just quite a massive difference. We’re not talking about, like, 50 metres difference between engine manufacturers, or even between cars, but 300 metres, and then there were quite big speed differences across cars, so it was a bit surprising,” summed up Gasly.
Gasly wanted to race the one lap in the end
Towards the end, he wanted to get that one lap of racing after the safety car. He thought there was a chance to pass not just Colapinto or Bortoleto, but also Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad. “I want to race,” said Gasly.
“Personally, I want to race, so… I’m not too sure what was the purpose behind it, but…I’m here to race, so I don’t really understand what happened.”
With the Racing Bulls (59) pair scoring well, they are now only one point behind Alpine (60) in the fight for fifth in F1 Constructors’ Championship.
