Gasly and Doohan vow to chase Alpine’s first points with pace ‘not miles away’

Pierre Gasly believes Alpine’s pace at the Japanese Grand Prix “wasn’t miles away” despite the team falling short of taking its first points of the 2025 season.

Alpine are the only team yet to register a point this term, with Gasly’s 11th place at the Australian Grand Prix opener the team’s strongest result so far.

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With tyre degradation low at Suzuka, and having failed to reach the final phase of Qualifying with either car, Gasly and Doohan finished 13th and 15th respectively – although this was the first time that the team saw both drivers reach the flag as classified finishers.

“There were a few things to analyse,” said Gasly after the race. “It felt like we actually did everything I could from inside the car.

SUZUKA, JAPAN - APRIL 06: Pierre Gasly of France driving the (10) Alpine F1 A525 Renault leads Jack — It was a solid if not spectacular weekend for Alpine in Japan

“We had a small issue at the pit stop, which I don’t know what happened yet but we’ll review, then ultimately, we lacked a little bit of pace to be in that top 10.

“It wasn’t miles away, but it generally felt like we were lacking a bit of pace.”

After sitting out First Practice and then crashing early in FP2, Doohan had been limited to only low-fuel running before lining up on the grid.

With this in mind, he said of his race: “I think we can’t be unhappy. Very limited running as is the obvious, and no high-fuel running coming into the race, so it was a little bit of a step into the dark.

“We went super aggressive on the strategy, which gave us our best chance for an undercut. It wasn’t the fastest overall race time, but we were able to get that undercut, which was great.

Race Highlights: 2025 Japanese Grand Prix

“But it put us in a difficult position with about 25 laps to go when the hard tyre was giving up.

“We did a good job to keep Hulkenberg behind, not enough with Carlos on those newer softs. All in all, we’re still not where we want to be, but for myself this weekend, we can’t be too unhappy.”

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Looking ahead to Bahrain, the venue which hosted pre-season testing, both drivers were eager to return to more familiar territory – Doohan having previous experience of racing at the venue as well in the junior categories.

“I think it is going to be good to reset after the first three weekends on a track we know,” said Gasly. “The good thing is that we get to race again next week, so we’ll try to get these points next weekend.”

Echoing the points message, Doohan added: “I can’t wait for it and we’ve just got to keep working together as a team, keep pushing and get these points. That’s what’s important.”