Alpine endured yet another difficult weekend at the twentieth destination of the 2025 F1 season, the Mexico City GP. Throughout the whole race, Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto drove at the back of the field. Gasly saw the chequered flag as the 15th, just ahead of his teammate Colapinto, who was the last runner to finish the race.
The Mexico City Grand Prix weekend was a test for every team on the grid. The thin air caused by the extreme altitude made cooling a serious challenge for everyone.
Teams followed different strategies to cope with this issue and let their cars’ power units and brakes breathe. Though this wasn’t the only ongoing problem with Gasly’s A525, it added another complexity to the tyre and stint management.
Mexico City GP and current F1 performance a painful situation to deal with says Pierre Gasly
The 2025 Formula 1 season has been going very underwhelmingly for Alpine. The French team is currently the last in the Constructors’ Championship, 40 points behind Sauber. They finished in 6th place in the standings last year, achieving an unforgettable double podium finish in Brazil with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. Yet, the situation looks quite different for the French team this year.
Not being able to finish in points for the last seven Grands Prix, Gasly acknowledged that they couldn’t extract the best out of the car and the race at Mexico. The Frenchman said that they will analyze the crucial factor causing the excessive tyre degradation compared to other teams for the upcoming races.
“A very long race. A lot of degradation on the medium. We fitted the soft, did 37 laps, the most out of everyone. Very similar to last week.
“I want to review exactly why we’re doing this very long stint on soft, because we know obviously we’re degrading a lot more the tyres than the others. So, it doesn’t feel like we made the best out of the race. We could have had slightly better race than last time.
“There were a couple of strategies which we evaluated, and this one was really the one we were really targeting initially. So, I just need to review with the guys why we were ultimately just too slow. I managed to take a good start, and I overtook two or three cars. Within five, six laps, I got overtaken, and then after we were just on our own at the back. It was a pretty long afternoon.
“I wonder how we managed to fight with some of the cars. Before, at some point this year, I was able to show my nose. But up there at the moment, it’s just very far away from that.
“We’ll review with the guys. Ultimately, it would not have changed what we would have finished in. It’s just a bit painful.”
Looking forward ahead
Gasly crossed the line 37 seconds behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who finished the race in 14th place, miles ahead of the Frenchman in the F1 Mexico City GP.
Admitting there was more to extract from the race, Gasly guessed that he could have improved his time by 10 or 15 seconds.
Despite passing a very unfortunate season, the French driver still feels motivated for the last four Grand Prix weekends ahead. He further mentioned that an eventful Sao Paulo race would be very interesting.
“I’m motivated, but I’m not enjoying for sure being last and just having no fights. It’s just a race against yourself, and even that I don’t feel we’re really extracting the max out of it. On a day like today I’m not really pleased, because I just feel like we’ve probably left 10, 15 seconds out there. It’s not really enjoyable.
“We’re just going to stick together another four weekends, and then after we’ll focus on something a bit brighter for us, because I must say it’s just painful.
“I mean, it’s been a while since we had some rain. I’d definitely be keen for a bit more eventful and a bit more action under the rain in Brazil.”
