Alpine scores, but Gasly fumes after Silverstone stop

Alpine came away from the British Grand Prix with both cars in the points, but Pierre Gasly’s anger over a costly pit stop and the team’s lack of pace turned a useful recovery into a more uneasy result at Silverstone.

Franco Colapinto climbed from 19th on the grid to finish ninth, with Gasly 10th in Alpine’s third double-points finish of the season. The haul mattered because Alpine arrived at the weekend 13 points clear of Racing Bulls in the standings, only for that margin to be cut to a single point after failing to score in the Sprint and then taking just three points on Sunday.

Gasly’s race hinged on the intra-team pit sequence. Despite carrying a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lance Stroll in Q1, he had run ahead of Colapinto in the early stages as both Alpine drivers moved forward into the lower end of the midfield fight. Colapinto stopped a lap earlier, then Gasly lost track position with a 7.49-second stop that dropped him behind his teammate for good.

Speaking after the race, Pierre Gasly told the international media at Silverstone: “Good damage limitation for the team – three points – just a bit annoying to lose P9 to Franco because we had a slow stop on our side. I exited five seconds behind and then it stayed that way so [I’m] not very happy with that.” His frustration went beyond the team result. “The ninth and 10th positions are the same for the team, but for me they are not, and we are going to talk about it.”

Alpine’s double finish was also shaped by the chaos late on. Colapinto and Gasly moved into ninth and 10th after Max Verstappen retired and Kimi Antonelli was penalized for not respecting track limits, while a late Safety Car helped secure Colapinto’s top-10 result.

Colapinto still saw value in the comeback after a difficult start to the weekend. “Good – I’m happy of course,” he said. “We had a good start and the car was in a better place than on Friday.” He said the race became “a bit of a damage limitation race” after “the really strong weekend of Racing Bulls,” adding that Alpine needed “big steps” to make the car faster before Belgium.

Gasly’s assessment was even harsher. He said Alpine had simply not had the speed to fight the teams around it, adding: “We’re just too slow here.” He also said, “We’re slow and we need to definitely improve very quickly.”

That left Alpine with points on the board but little comfort from the bigger picture, as a race that should have stabilized its midfield position instead exposed both operational errors and a growing pace deficit in its fight with Racing Bulls heading to Belgium.