After a challenging weekend on track, we came away from Barcelona with our third double-points finish of the year

Monaco Podium Reinstated

We arrived in Spain with unfinished business from Monaco. After requesting a Right of Review into the two five-second pit lane speeding penalties handed to Pierre, we received news on Friday morning that the penalties were rescinded and Pierre’s third place finish was confirmed.

“I’m very happy and I’m very proud of how the team handled the situation,” Pierre told Sky Sports, before receiving a warm reception by the team in the garage.

While the reinstatement of the podium came at the expense of Isack Hadjar, the two friends joined up earlier in race week for a team football match at CF Badalona. The French pair even linked up together for one of the goals.

Football fever

With the FIFA World Cup starting, there was plenty of football chat in the paddock, and Franco appeared in the FIA Drivers’ Press Conference, where he was asked about Argentina’s chances. Earlier that day he’d arrived at the track in an electric Alpine A390 GT wearing the colours of his country’s national jersey.

“I think Argentina is always a great team and in the tricky moments or in the pressure moments they always play better,” he said. “So I’m not going to say we're going to win because it's bad luck, but hopefully we can have a good World Cup and enjoy it.”

Friday frustrations

Despite the jubilation of Friday morning’s news, practice proved far more challenging. Pierre initially headed out in FP1 but soon returned to the garage after Straight Line Mode briefly failed to engage. He also reported that the car was moving about under braking.

Across both sides of the garage, there was an overall lack of grip as the combination of high temperatures and Barcelona’s rear-limited characteristics made it tricky for both drivers on track. With cars sliding, tyre degradation worsened, limiting confidence behind the wheel.

Pierre completed 52 laps across Friday’s two sessions, while Franco added 58 of his own. Elsewhere, our Reserve Driver Paul Aron continued to build on his Formula One experience, taking part in FP1 with Audi where he ended P6.

The team broke curfew on Friday night — the second of four permitted occasions before penalties apply — to prepare a replacement chassis from its existing pool for Pierre ahead of the remainder of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend.

With overnight simulator work back at Enstone, and extensive efforts from the trackside team, the hope was to overcome Friday’s issues as we prepared for qualifying on Saturday.

Double podium Academy success

Away from the main event, it proved to be another memorable weekend for the Alpine Academy drivers. Kush Maini led home a brilliant Formula 2 one-two in Saturday’s Sprint race, converting a front-row start into victory ahead of Gabriele Mini.

The F2 Feature race on Sunday morning provided yet more success. At one stage, Mini and Alex Dunne were running first and second before the order shuffled, and following a post-race penalty for Nikola Tsolov, Dunne finished the race in second and Mini third.

Crucially, the Italian left Barcelona still leading the Drivers’ Championship, now with a six-point margin. The four podium results over the course of the weekend was another reminder of the strength of this year’s Academy programme.

Fighting back on Sunday

The earlier issues with car balance meant Pierre lined up on the grid for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix in P14, one place behind Franco. The latter opted to start the race on soft, while Pierre ran mediums for the opening stint.

On the first lap, both drivers advanced two positions, aided by a slow-starting Hadjar, and ran in close formation trying to preserve tyre wear in the hot conditions. Franco pitted for new hards on lap 12, followed by Pierre two laps later, who chose the same compound of tyre.

To manage the pace of both cars and maximise strategic options, the pit wall instructed a swap of places on lap 20, and soon Gasly had closed in on the battle between Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson ahead of him. Hulkenberg retired, elevating both cars up another place.

Franco stopped for a second time on lap 34, while Pierre ran longer. And when a Virtual Safety Car was deployed for Fernando Alonso’s stricken Aston Martin, he took the opportunity to pit as the field’s pace was reduced.

That decisive strategy call moved Pierre into ninth, with Franco behind in tenth. Two late retirements for Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli provided a further lift to the team as we crossed the line in P7 and P8.

Unfortunately, Franco picked up a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement and dropped to tenth in the final classification. It was however, our third double points finish of the year and an impressive turnaround from where we’d started the weekend.

Flavio’s final thoughts

Flavio Briatore:

“It was a great comeback from the team today considering where we started the day. To go from starting well outside the top 10 to finishing with both cars inside the points. Our car seems to perform better and be more competitive on Sundays compared to Saturdays and we need to quickly find ways to improve our overall performance. Credit to both Pierre and Franco for their cooperation and working as a team to maximise our position in the race and score as many points as possible, which is always our number one priority.”