BWT Alpine Formula One Team, Monza Race Weekend Wrap-up

After the high of Gasly re-signing with the BWT Alpine Formula One Team, the race didn’t bring the same joy.

Following the decision to take a new power unit before the race, Gasly started from the pit lane with very little opportunity to climb the order at a track not well known for overtaking. Down the main straight, most cars with high downforce would need an additional 10kph of speed—on top of DRS—to comfortably make a move into the Variante del Rettifilo chicane, something that Alpine lacked due to their race package.

Due to this overall lack of pace, Franco also struggled. With a qualifying position of P17, it was hard for him to make any headway against the DRS train ahead, led by the Williams of Carlos Sainz.

Today in numbers:
Pierre started from the pit lane on New Hards, finished P16
Pit-stop on Lap 49 for New Softs. Fastest Lap: 1min 22.185secs

Franco started from P17 on New Mediums, finished P17
Pit-stop on Lap 33 for New Hards. Fastest Lap: 1min 22.239secs

Strategy and Pit Lane Start Stifle Gasly Signing Celebration

There looked to be chances midway through the race as Gasly flirted with the points positions, but with an alternate strategy that relied on a Safety Car to make gains, he was unfortunately out of sequence and unable to capitalise:

“We just tried to stay out as long as possible on Hards with the hope of benefitting from a late Safety Car or Red Flag. It seems like everyone kept it quite clean, so no incidents for us to benefit from.”

He’s feeling quite positive about the team and is looking to maximise as much as possible when on track:

“We will stick at it, try our best, take each race as they come and see what we can do each time we are on track.”

Franco Looking Ahead to Baku

Franco echoed Gasly’s thoughts after a tough day on track, acknowledging that the car’s package wasn’t going to give them what they needed to overtake:

“Today was tricky even if we knew that would probably be the case this afternoon on a difficult track for us. We lacked pace and struggled to make much progress, which made the race quite long without much action.”

Franco will use the week off to work with the team to ensure he’s fully prepared for the Baku City race in a fortnight:

“We will have a week or so now to look ahead to the next race in Baku. I will be with the team in Enstone to prepare and hopefully keep making steps forward.”

Flavio Focuses on 2026, Admitting Not Much Will Change

Flavio admitted there wouldn’t be many changes to the current package, with the team “firmly focused” on the 2026 car. Still, he’s optimistic about the work being done behind the scenes:

“With the current car, this is what we have available to us and to both drivers for the remaining races, with the focus firmly on the development of the 2026 car. As racers, we know weekends like these are going to be difficult, but we are confident with the work going on behind the scenes that better days lie ahead for the team.”

With only eight races left on the Formula One World Championship calendar, the team is looking to make the strategic and operational changes needed to hit the ground running in 2026.