Pierre Gasly reflected positively on Alpine’s performance at the 2026 F1 Italian GP after taking his maiden pole position and finishing P7 at Monza.
Gasly’s weekend began with the frustrating loss of his 2026 Monza podium, followed by a missed FP1 session as rookie Paul Aron took his seat. After finishing P14 in FP2, overnight setup changes helped the Frenchman climb to P9 in FP3 before ending a nine-year wait to secure his maiden F1 pole in qualifying.
Starting from P1, Gasly made a strong start to lead through Lap 1 before dropping to P2 as George Russell’s Mercedes pace proved stronger. Following Leclerc’s early red-flag crash, Gasly made another quick getaway at the restart, though he gradually slipped down the order, falling to P6 by Lap 10.
After a close back-and-forth battle with Lando Norris, Pierre Gasly eventually dropped away from the faster cars in front and finished P7, just 2.7s behind Hamilton and 17.4s clear of Arvid Lindblad.
Gasly takes positives from P7 at 2026 F1 Italian GP
Reflecting on his 2026 F1 Italian GP race performance, Pierre Gasly acknowledged the challenge of maintaining his qualifying pace over the full race distance as McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all have more downforce.
“I mean, the part of me that is realistic is very satisfied. Starting on pole, you must have a side of you which thinks, ok, what can happen over 53 laps, this and that, but I’ve got to be honest, before the race, we knew that the pace in the race would be extremely difficult to stay up there and fight with the top guys,” he said, before going on to focus on the positives.
“I’m very happy with the two starts. We did two great starts, managed to keep the lead on the first one, great on the second. Battle slightly stayed in the right train for, you know, the first 10 laps, which was really good. And, yeah, battle with Lando, who won the last two races, so from where we come from, it’s very positive and finished three seconds behind Lewis, who same, has been fighting for podium this year.”
He added: “I’m not going to be disappointed with that. Obviously, the end result is P7 and you’ll wish, ok, you can get slightly more out of it, but I think overall, we’ve just got to take all the positives from the weekend, because there were many, and try to build from that.”
Alpine to “learn from the entire weekend” at Italian GP
Further analysing his race, Gasly noted the challenges of fighting at the front and managing the different demands of racing at the Monza International Autodrome.
He was not surprised that George Russell passed him at the start of Lap 2.
“I knew if I kept the lead out of the Parabolica, he would pass me anyway, so it was guaranteed. I wasn’t really surprised. After a few things with the second restart and the battle with energy, clipping, etc., where sometimes you feel a bit stuck with what you have and not as much flexibility as I would have liked, but at the end of the day, we’ve just got to learn from all the situations.”
While starting from pole had its challenges, the result itself became a significant moment for Alpine, marking the team’s first-ever pole since its rebrand from Renault in 2021. The achievement also marked the team’s first pole since Fernando Alonso secured P1 in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian GP under the Renault name.
Despite the long wait, Gasly praised the team for how they handled the opportunity: “As a team, I think it was, you know, it’s been quite a long time since we found ourselves up there and still managed to handle it very well. We’ve got to learn from the entire weekend. It’s been overall very positive.”
F1 Highs and lows
Asked about the contrast between losing his Monaco podium and securing pole at Monza a day later, the Frenchman shared:
“Yeah, the story of my life, of course. Yeah, it’s been a lot going on. For sure, the last 24 hours have been, you know, extremely fun and extremely enjoyable with all the energy, the motivation in the garage, the reaction of the whole team. I’m sure it’s going to bring a huge boost to all of us. And as I say, from where we came last year to today, I was looking at the cars ahead. There were a couple of seconds in front of us. We finished 18 seconds ahead of Lindblad. The gap with the cars in front was smaller than the gap with the car behind. That’s what we’ve got to build on. Hopefully, we’re going to repeat this type of performance more often.”
Gasly’s result comes as Alpine looks to regain momentum after a difficult run of rounds between Austria and Hungary, where the team only scored 4 points. A significant upgrade at Zandvoort has helped relaunch their season, with Alpine sitting P6 in the Teams’ Standings with 62 points, now just 13 points behind rivals Racing Bulls in P5.
“Yes, that’s the best car I’ve had this year and the most consistent,” he said. “There are some stuff that explains it and some other stuff which we’ve got to understand. I have a couple of ideas on why it could be, but obviously, we need more tracks [to see]. And Monza is very special, very unique. Over the next few days, it will be important to try to understand a bit more about this performance and try to repeat it more on the coming weekends.”
Eyeing further progress
Pierre Gasly concluded by highlighting how he believes that Alpine’s Italian GP performance will provide key confidence for the remaining 2026 F1 races.
“Yeah, I think in terms of work, you’re always very happy with the steps I’m seeing. Overall, everywhere at all stages in terms of car performance, in terms of executions, in terms of how we approach the weekend, we’re raising the bar all the time. Again, a few things we know on race day which we’re missing with the car, like help with the tires, etc. We still have stuff to learn and do better, but overall, I think we’re very well aware and heading in the right direction.
“Yeah, even for the team, I think the last pole was like 2009. I imagine some guys that have been working there for years and never experienced it. I’m sure going back in Enstone is going to be quite special. Again, that’s going to be the target, try to repeat it. It’s going to be better on Sunday and try to be in that mix in front of us.”
