Alpine pair Gasly and Colapinto already looking to Azerbaijan after lacking pace ‘everywhere’ on tough Monza weekend

Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were both keen to move on swiftly and target the next round of the F1 season in Azerbaijan following a particularly challenging Italian Grand Prix for Alpine.

Gasly and Colapinto could not make an impression on the midfield fight at Monza, with the circuit’s characteristics exposing the weaknesses of Alpine’s package and leading to low-key weekends for both drivers.

While Colapinto finished where he started in 17th, Gasly went from the pit lane (brought on by pre-race power unit changes) to 16th – only Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who tumbled down the order via a late pit stop, ending up behind them.

Asked to reflect on the race, and where Alpine were lacking, Gasly replied: “Everywhere. We’re just struggling for pace on Saturday and Sunday, and we knew coming here to Monza it was always going to be difficult.

“Starting from the pit lane we just tried different stuff, Franco starting on medium [tyres], me on hard. I tried to go as long as possible; I think we did 50 odd laps on this hard hoping for a red flag or Safety Car to benefit from, but it didn’t happen.

“We’re just trying. We’ve just got to keep trying every weekend.”

Colapinto added: “It was just tough, not so nice out there. A very long race, very lonely. We tried our best I think as a team with different strategies, but it just didn’t really work out.

“We’ll keep pushing together. The next one is Baku, so we’ll try to make up for this race.”

However, despite naturally wanting more from the weekend, Gasly made clear that “there’s no frustration to have at the minute” given Alpine’s hopes for 2026 and F1’s all-new regulations.

“We know the situation we are in, we know we have no upgrades coming, we know that it’s going to be the same speech and the same talk every weekend – we’ve just got to stick at it,” said the Frenchman, who has signed to continue with Alpine through 2028.

“We know next year is a completely new car, it’s a fresh start for all of us. I’m very positive and very optimistic for it, so I’ve just got to keep trying my best and try to take every lesson possible for us as a team. We’ll try again in Baku.”

Alpine remain rooted to the bottom of the Teams’ Championship standings after Monza, with their tally of 20 points comparing to 44 for ninth-placed Haas.