Alpine’s 12-month F1 turnaround: P20 to P4 on Bahrain GP grid

“I knew after my last corner [in Q3] this lap would put me in a very good place,” Pierre Gasly told media after qualifying for Formula 1’s 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix. “But nowhere near close thinking it would put us like four hundredths off the top three and only three tenths off pole position.”

Gasly qualified fifth, which became fourth after Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli was demoted for a pitlane procedural breach, while rookie team-mate Jack Doohan narrowly missed the cut for Q3. It was a stark contrast from events of the 2024 Bahrain GP, the season opener: technical director Matt Harman and aero chief Dirk de Beer were already preparing to clear their desks when Gasly and Esteban Ocon, his team-mate at the time, qualified on the back row.

Two technical restructures ensued in which Alpine adopted a McLaren-style split of responsibilities across the engineering department, then recruited ex-Ferrari chief engineer David Sanchez as executive technical director presiding over the new arrangement. Former team principal Flavio Briatore returned as ‘executive advisor’, and Bruno Famin was shifted out of the TP role in favour of Hitech GP boss Oliver Oakes.

It was well known in the F1 paddock that much useful energy had been wasted in recent years through mutual recriminations between Alpine’s F1 factory in the Oxfordshire countryside and Renault’s engine facility in Viry-Chatillon near Paris. Briatore resolved that battle by terminating Viry’s involvement in the project and arranging to buy in a Mercedes power unit from 2026 onwards.

Subjective impressions as well as objective data now indicate that decision was the correct one, however brutal.

“Have you seen how quick the Alpine is in Turns 6 and 11?” Carlos Sainz remarked to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying. “It’s as quick as a McLaren through those corners.

“They say they’re 0.3s down on engine. With a Mercedes engine it would be on the front row…”

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Clive Mason/Getty Images

The principal weakness of the current Renault PU is that its hybrid system is the least efficient on the grid. It tends to run out of electrical augmentation on the straights, a phenomenon known in F1 parlance as ‘clipping’.

In Shanghai the team had to beef up its rear wing ‘in the field’ when it failed the FIA’s new, more stringent deflection-test parameters. Given the PU’s known deficits it would be no surprise if the team was being aggressive on aero elasticity in this area to find straightline speed.

This impression gained credence last weekend in Suzuka, where GPS analysis indicated Gasly was among the quickest through the ‘S’ curves at the beginning of the lap but lost out through the two straights later in the lap, on his way to qualifying 11th.

“They are quite obvious, the areas we are losing,” was his discreet conclusion afterwards.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Bryn Lennon – Getty Images

While conditions in Bahrain have presented a moving target for car set-up given the race is slightly later in the year, and daytime temperatures have been higher, when the Alpine is on song it has a much more surefooted front end than last year’s car. Finding performance is now a matter of fine-tuning.

“There was a good improvement – even in Q1 I wasn’t comfortable in the car, I was sliding a lot, many snaps in many places,” said Gasly. “We changed a few things, some of the settings I could do inside the car, and we managed to improve run by run.

“We need this – we know it’s extremely tight [in the midfield], we still haven’t scored any points this year, we’ve been more on the back foot in the midfield. But this weekend we’ve put things together for a very strong performance so far.

“There are a few things I have in mind but it’s more about the package and what the car is capable of doing. Today it really felt like it gave me the control, I was able to push and drive it the way I wanted – the front was very reactive, through the high-speed [corners] the car was extremely good.

“Through the last corner I managed to place the car exactly how I wanted, which hasn’t been the case so far this season.

“The [optimal car performance] window is just extremely small everywhere, you have to be smooth with all you do inside the car to really get the best out of it.”

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Having a narrow peak performance ‘window’ is a common thread up and down the grid. While Alpine has yet to score a point this season, the potential is clearly there and it is chiefly now the power unit holding the car back.

Last year the A524 was significantly overweight at the start of the season, a fact rendered obvious by the quantity of bare carbon fibre on show and the car’s pendulous reluctance to turn into corners. A crash weight-loss programme and successful performance upgrades in the second half of the season began the upwards trajectory to where the A525 is now.

“The car, honestly, in the high-speeds – [Turns] 6, 7, 11 – when I think of 12 months ago, what I was doing in those corners, and what I was able to do here today, it’s very impressive what the team has been able to do,” said Gasly. “A year ago we were qualifying P20 and I couldn’t believe it, here we are three tenths off pole.

“We just need to keep that dynamic and momentum – there are great things happening in the team, we just need to make sure it keeps going and use that as much as we can for next season as well.”