Gasly ‘gave absolutely everything’ to secure Qatar top-five finish as Alpine’s P6 hopes handed a boost

Pierre Gasly continued his spectacular form in this season’s final run of races with a fifth-place finish in Qatar, giving Alpine a small lead over Haas in the tight battle for P6 in the constructors’ standings.

The Frenchman’s last three races have been some of his best of the campaign – following a double podium for the team in Brazil, he qualified in P3 in Las Vegas. While he was forced to retire from the race with engine failure, he carried the momentum over to the Qatar Grand Prix.

After narrowly missing out on Q3, Gasly started the race in P11 and got stuck into a close battle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen just ahead of him. He then took advantage of the Safety Car conditions and pitted for fresh tyres, leaving him in front of Carlos Sainz on track.

The 10 points gained for Alpine were crucial in the battle for P6 as Esteban Ocon, who will be replaced by rookie Jack Doohan for the final race in Abu Dhabi, was clipped by Nico Hulkenberg on the opening lap and suffered too much damage to continue.

QATAR - DECEMBER 01: Pierre Gasly of France and Alpine F1 waves to the crowd on the drivers parade prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Lusail International Circuit on December 01, 2024 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) — Gasly has scored 36 of the team’s points this season, compared to Ocon’s 23

“It was an incredible race,” Gasly summarised. “I’m so happy for the whole team to be in a position to fight for the top five the second time this season.

“The end of the season is going extremely well and looking back at where we were at the start of the year is just very, very impressive – what they’ve been able to achieve in terms of development and putting performance onto the car even though we had a challenging year.

ANALYSIS: Why Alpine chose to release Ocon with one race left and give Doohan his debut in Abu Dhabi

“Today was mega. I felt good in the car, the car was well balanced, we had great pace, great battles on track – especially this last stint with Carlos behind for over 15 laps. It really kept me on my toes and I had to really be on it.

“Not every race this year we could fight for a top five so I really gave absolutely everything I had out there and I’m glad it worked out.”

Yuki Tsunoda leads Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Lusail International Circuit on December 01, 2024 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Mark Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — The battle between Alpine, Haas and RB will go down to the final race

The Enstone outfit are now on 59 points, only five ahead of Haas with RB a further eight points behind, meaning every point continues to be crucial as they head to Abu Dhabi for the highly anticipated season finale.

Asked whether securing P6 is a realistic prospect, Gasly said: “Yes, we can do it. Obviously we know and we expect a very tough fight with Haas.

HIGHLIGHTS: Relive the action from a thrilling Qatar Grand Prix as Verstappen wins ahead of Leclerc and Piastri

“I think we’re going to be fighting each other until the very last lap in Abu Dhabi. It was very important to go into it a few points ahead of them.

“We put ourselves in the best position we could – now there is still another seven days of work before we can go on holiday, and they’re going to be very important.”