HALF TERM REPORT: Alpine’s best and worst moments from 2025 so far and driver head-to-heads

Alpine have had an eventful season so far – again. After something of a rollercoaster 2024 campaign, they went into this year with a pairing of Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan, only for the rookie Australian to find himself back on the sidelines after the team opted for the services of Franco Colapinto from Imola onwards. However, amid another Team Principal departure, the underlying facts are that Alpine’s car isn’t quite fast enough this season, leaving the Enstone-based outfit sitting bottom of the Teams’ Standings. Here’s the lowdown on their 2025 so far…

Best finish

Pierre Gasly – 6th in Great Britain

Gasly perfectly described his sixth-placed finish at the British Grand Prix as ‘unreal’ – given the Alpine driver had started the Silverstone weekend with P19, P18 and P20 finishes in the first three practice sessions.

Having impressively hauled his car into the top 10 in Saturday’s Qualifying, the subsequent wet-dry race on Sunday brought chaos – and opportunity – for those up and down the grid. While Kick Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg stole the show with his rise to the podium that day, Gasly’s own efforts in maximizing what was on offer shouldn’t be ignored.

He expertly held onto his top-10 start for much of the race before eventually picking off the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on the final lap of the Grand Prix to score Alpine’s best result of the season so far, as well as eight very valuable points.

Qualifying head-to-head

Gasly 5-1 Doohan
Gasly 6-2 Colapinto

Doohan spent the opening six rounds of the season alongside Gasly, but it was the more experienced Frenchman who led in the Qualifying head-to-head statistics. The only event where the Australian came out on top in Qualifying was in Miami – as he made it to Q2 before securing 14th on the grid after Gasly was knocked out in the first phase.

However, Doohan’s race on the Sunday would last less than a lap after he and Liam Lawson made contact at the first corner – and for the next round in Imola he was dropped back down to reserve with Colapinto taking his place.

With the Argentine now having had eight race weekends of his own alongside Gasly, it is still the Frenchman who leads the way — though Colapinto showed pace in Canada and Hungary.

Race head-to head

Gasly 4*-1 Doohan
Gasly 5-3 Colapinto

When it comes to the race head-to-head, Gasly again comes out on top compared to his less experienced team mates at Alpine — while his disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix sees him lose out on a score against Doohan.

The Frenchman is also responsible for scoring all of the team’s points thus far – with neither Doohan or Colapinto able to finish in the points-scoring positions in 2025. Currently Colapinto's highest finish is 13th in both Monaco and Canada, while Doohan's highest was also 13th, achieved in China (though this was aided by three post-race disqualifications.)

Gasly's 20 points for Alpine do, however, make them the highest scoring last-placed team in F1 history, so there’s something to shout about.

*Gasly was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix for an underweight car

Best moment

There haven’t been too many contenders for this section in 2025, so Gasly’s remarkable sixth in the British Grand Prix gets another mention here.

Given the Frenchman has openly admitted the car is relatively slow compared to the opposition, and that much of the squad’s focus is on 2026 and the new set of regulations, then there probably won’t be too many more results like this for the rest of the year.

Mind you, we said similar this time last season before Gasly and Esteban Ocon went on to secure a double podium in Brazil…

Worst moment

There’s been plenty of off-track news surrounding Alpine again this year – not only was there the aforementioned driver swap with Doohan and Colapinto but Team Principal Oli Oakes also exited the squad earlier this year due to reasons of a "personal nature".

But for Alpine’s worst moment of 2025 we’re going to nominate Gasly’s disqualification in China. It went under the radar at the time – given Ferrari’s duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were both also disqualified from the race – but being excluded from a Grand Prix is never something you want on your record.

Going forward

Much of Alpine’s focus is lasered in on 2026 and the new regulations, but the arrival of Steve Nielsen on September 1 as Managing Director will be a significant step in solidifying the team’s leadership structure.

Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore has been covering many of the duties previously performed by Oakes, with Nielsen being recruited to oversee the day-to-day running of the team. The Briton also has previous experience with the Enstone-based squad having worked with them under their previous guises as Benetton, Renault and Lotus.

As highlighted by Gasly, much of Nielsen’s focus will be on maximising what’s possible in 2026 to ensure the team are performing to the best of their abilities. Quite simply, last in the Teams’ Standings is not where they expect to be.

But away from 2026, there also needs to be a focus on helping guide Colapinto through a challenging phase in his F1 career. The Argentine showed what he was capable of last season with Williams, but he is yet to hit those heights in an Alpine.

If they can get him firing on all cylinders alongside Gasly then the prospects look brighter for the future, as well as their hopes for finishing a little further up the standings.