Alpine's 2026 recovery has a face, and it belongs to Pierre Gasly. After the Japanese Grand Prix, the French veteran walked away with a perfect 10/10 rating from P1 with Matt & Tommy hosts — a score that reflects the scale of what he delivered against a grid packed with faster cars.
Qualifying seventh in an Alpine was startling enough. Gasly did it by beating both Red Bulls on Saturday at Suzuka, including Max Verstappen's rookie Red Bull team-mates. The Race Talk F1 Podcast host summed up the disbelief.
"When you look at the likes of Arvin Lindlood and Isaac Hajar — being new drivers coming into this Red Bull setup — and you think someone like Pierre Gasly who's been in that team with mad experience putting in laps, out-qualifying Red Bulls in an Alpine," he said, "it is mad."
His co-host agreed in three words: "It is mad. I love his guts."
Sunday was arguably harder. The 2026 cars, with their heavy energy-management requirements, punish aggressive overtaking attempts. As Tommy on P1 noted, "We heard Lando's comments of like, why do you even try and overtake when you lose battery to get past." Gasly used that reality to his advantage and kept the faster Red Bull behind him all race.
Gasly has framed the result as confirmation of a broader trend. "We clearly have a good package and I'm glad we managed to get some, you know, very good potential on all three tracks which were quite different," he said. "I think it definitely brings some good optimism for the rest of the year."
The question now is whether Alpine can supply the consistency. If the car stays competitive, Gasly — who has quietly endured the team's worst two seasons in a decade — could be the beneficiary of the 2026 rules reset that was supposed to favour manufacturer giants. Suzuka suggests the opposite is at least possible.
