Alpine’s best and worst moments from 2025 and driver head-to heads

In a word, Alpine’s 2025 has been tough. A driver swap, a Team Principal departure and performances that saw them prop up the Teams’ Championship underlines how challenging the year has been. With the Enstone-based squad’s focus switching to 2026 long ago, in a bid to capitalise on the new regulations that come into play, it has been a case of getting to the end of 2025 as quickly as possible. Here’s their end of year report…

Best finish

Pierre Gasly – 6th in Great Britain

With Alpine’s efforts firmly focused on 2026 and the new regulations, the team’s results in 2025 do not make for the greatest reading – particularly after the summer break. Pierre Gasly’s efforts in Brazil deserve a mention, with the Frenchman picking up a point in both the Sprint and the race, but that was the Enstone-squad’s only score in the second half of the season.

As a result, the British Grand Prix remains Alpine’s best finish in 2025 as Gasly capitalized on the dramatic mixed conditions to take a very impressive sixth. Having hauled his car into the top 10 in Saturday’s Qualifying, the 29-year-old maintained his place despite the challenging weather.

With the right calls at the right time, he would go on to pick off the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on the final lap of the Grand Prix to earn eight very well-deserved points.

Qualifying head-to-head

Gasly 5-1 DoohanGasly 13-5 Colapinto

For the opening six rounds of 2025, Jack Doohan was alongside Gasly – but the more experienced Frenchman came out on top in the Qualifying head-to-heads. Miami was the only exception as the Australian made it to Q2 in what would turn out to be his final weekend in the Alpine seat.

With Franco Colapinto installed in place of Doohan from Imola onwards, it was Gasly who still comfortably had the better of his younger team mate with the Argentine’s best Qualifying performance his P12 in Canada.

In comparison Gasly made Q3 10 times across 2025, a real achievement in a car generally considered the weakest on this season’s grid.

Race head-to-head

Gasly 4*-1 DoohanGasly 11-7 Colapinto

Gasly again leads the way in the race head-to-head against both team mates, though his match up with Colapinto is closer than in their Qualifying scores.

The Frenchman was, however, responsible for scoring all 22 of Alpine’s points – 20 of those coming before the August break and two coming afterwards (both in Brazil) – which meant Alpine were the highest-scoring last placed team in F1 history, a feat they achieved at Silverstone as Gasly’s P6 saw them overtake the previous record holders Haas who had 12 in 2023.

If they take nothing else from 2025 they can at least take that.

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

Best moment

In a year that was low on highlights, that sixth-placed Silverstone result for Gasly reappears once again in this section. Credit should also be given for his P7 in Bahrain and his points in Brazil, when Alpine had firmly turned the taps off in favour of looking ahead to next year.

And, if we’re going to seek out another positive, the Frenchman was adamant that the team had become “way more united” in a challenging campaign. They’ll certainly be hoping to have more contenders for this category going forwards anyway.

Worst moment

There’s a few… Gasly’s disqualification in China, finishing P19 and P20 in Abu Dhabi and more change within the Alpine hierarchy all spring to mind.

But for this, we’re going to crown their Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend as the worst moment of 2025. With Gasly entering the run-off in a chaotic Q1 – a Qualifying session that would prove to be an epic – Colapinto would go on to hit the wall heavily at the same corner just a few seconds later, bringing out the red flags again.

Both cars were out of Q1 in bitterly disappointing fashion, with one facing a significant rebuild job, and race day hardly went any better as the pair finished last of the runners in P18 and P19 (McLaren’s Oscar Piastri had crashed out on the opening lap).

Goals for 2026

Alpine have long been focused on 2026, when sweeping new regulations come into play, in a bid to haul themselves back up the Teams’ Standings. Quite simply, being last next year is not an option.

While there have been more changes at the top – Team Principal Oli Oakes left his role within a year of joining and long-time Renault CEO Luca de Meo left in June – there have been moves to give the team stability. Step one is sticking with their driver line-up, both Gasly and Colapinto are signed on, while Steve Nielsen joined as the team’s Managing Director, reporting to Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore.

Next season also sees the squad swapping to customer Mercedes power, rather than producing their own power units, a decision that Briatore hopes brings success.

“We are setting the team for next season,” he told F1.com earlier this year. “We will have a great Mercedes engine and gearbox. I’m sure next season will be good for the team and we give our drivers the right car to compete. We are doing the best possible and my target is to be in P6 [next year].”

Time will tell as to whether that target will be realised when the form book is ripped up next year.