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Pierre Gasly had a very good weekend at Suzuka. He finished seventh, held off Max Verstappen across the second half of the race, and came away believing he is currently driving the best Formula 1 car he has ever had underneath him. That is a statement worth examining.
Seventh Place, but a Meaningful One
Gasly has been consistently quicker than both Red Bulls across the last three qualifying sessions, including the sprint qualifying in China. That pattern is not a coincidence, and it has given him genuine confidence in what the Alpine A526 is capable of. He was proud of the Japan result when speaking to Canal Plus. "It was a long race, I have to say, with a lot of pressure. At the beginning of the race I felt reasonably comfortable on the medium tyres. But there have been a lot of safety cars this year already, so I knew one would come at some point."
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Verstappen Kept Him Honest
The second half of the race was a proper fight. Verstappen found his way onto the hard tyres and applied constant pressure on the Alpine ahead of him. "He put me under enormous pressure for the whole race, so I had to concentrate fully on being as fast as possible, no tyre management, no mistakes, because he was right on my tail. He managed to stay reasonably close, so they were doing slightly better than us on the hard tyres. But in the end we managed to keep him behind and take seventh place."
"The Best Car I Have Had in My Career"
His overall assessment of the Alpine was generous but grounded in what he has experienced across the first three races. "I think this is currently the best car I have had in my career, maybe alongside the AlphaTauri from 2021. I think we have a good base. I am very happy that the car has performed well in the first few weekends and that we have
delivered strong results everywhere. We know our limitations and know what we need to work on. But we still have a month ahead of us, we are working on things for Miami, so overall it looks positive." The AlphaTauri reference is significant. That was the car he drove to victory at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Placing the current Alpine on the same level says something meaningful about where Alpine actually are in the 2026 pecking order.
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