All eyes were on the Doha desert over the weekend as the penultimate round of the FIA Formula One World Championship unfolded at the Lusail International Circuit.

For the travelling crew, it had been a long trip from Las Vegas for the second race of the final triple-header of the year. And before we make the short hop to Abu Dhabi for the finale, here’s a look back on a busy Sprint weekend in Qatar.

Flying into the Middle East

If you listen to the advice of our Human Performance Manager, Pete Webster, there’s no better way to acclimatise after a long-haul journey than with a light session of exercise. The team duly followed this guidance, taking part in a football match before the weekend began, with both Pierre and Test and Reserve Driver Paul Aron involved at the state of the art Aspire Academy facility.

Football and flying became major themes of the weekend, with our Commercial Airline Partner, Qatar Airways, bringing a number of high-profile guests from the sporting and entertainment worlds to Lusail. Among them were football legends Sir David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand, actor Kevin Hart, DJ Swizz Beatz, and Grand-Slam winning icon Novak Djokovic, who also stopped by the Alpine Hospitality for a chat with Flavio.

The tennis champion even hosted a specialised yoga session on the start/finish straight, attracting several familiar paddock faces - including Franco, who loosened up under Novak’s instruction. Also taking part was Carmen Jorda, former Lotus F1 Team Development Driver, who was announced as Head of Alpine F1 Academy and Qatar Airways Ambassador during the weekend.

Carmen joined the team in front of the Alpine garage on Thursday to announce the renewal of our successful partnership with Qatar Airways. The agreement included special branding on our drivers’ helmets and caps, along with an expanded partnership with our F1 Academy entry. In this new role, Carmen will support fan engagement and community outreach programmes that highlight the airline’s commitment to empowerment and excellence.

On Sunday, Paul Aron supported a demonstration event with Qatar Airways in the 2012 V8 powered E20 Formula One car. A unique event on a runway in front of a star-studded guest list, where Paul - as a stuntman - put on a huge show with burnouts and donuts as a curtain raiser to Grand Prix day.

Heading out under the floodlights

Viewed from the passenger seat of the Qatar Airways flypast, the Lusail International Circuit appears a calm and colourful oasis in the desert. But it shouldn’t be underestimated. The 5.4km track is fast, high-grip, and generates the highest lateral loads on tyres all season. For that reason, Pirelli imposed a maximum stint length of 25 laps. Click here to find out more from Sporting Director Richard Lockwood.

On Friday evening, the weekend began in earnest with one hour of free practice. Franco felt comfortable early in the session on the Hard compound but was unable to complete a representative lap on the Mediums in SQ1 after a sideways snap.

In Sprint Qualifying, Pierre struggled at the start of his push lap and, the early loss of time proved costly, and both drivers were eliminated before SQ2.

The final Sprint of the year

After a well-attended Qatar Fan Forum appearance on Saturday afternoon, where Pierre and Franco received strong support from both travelling and local fans, attention turned to the Sprint itself. We opted to make setup changes under Parc Fermé conditions, meaning both cars started from the Pit Lane, alongside two other competitors.

In reality, the 19-lap Sprint therefore became an extended test session to evaluate the engineering changes we’d made. Right at the end, we boxed both cars for used Softs as a Qualifying simulation and Pierre duly recorded the fastest lap of the race. The benefits of the setup changes were immediately evident on his side of the garage. In the subsequent Qualifying session, Pierre delivered a superb performance. Despite having his quickest Q1 lap deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 8/9, he progressed in 15th, narrowly avoiding elimination.

Unfortunately for Franco, while he immediately felt more confident with the revised setup, he ran wide onto the gravel on the exit of the challenging Turn 15 on his first push lap, and a small error on his second run prevented further progress. Meanwhile, Pierre was flying in the #10 machine. He was the first driver to take the flag at the end of Q2 and posted a time good enough for eighth. He was safely into Q3, securing his tenth Q3 appearance of the year and third in a row.

“The team did a very good job to make changes to the car, which felt a lot better and I was much more confident behind the wheel,” said a delighted Pierre. “We used the Sprint as a mini practice session to try and understand a few things and make the necessary changes. The car felt much nicer to drive in Qualifying and we were able to put in a lot of good laps. This goes to show everyone’s hard work and motivation within the team to find the right improvements.”

The duel in the desert

Starting the Qatar Grand Prix from P9 on new Mediums, Pierre enjoyed an exciting opening lap, before running wide out of Turn 14 and sustaining minor damage. He settled into ninth with Nico Hülkenberg behind, the Sauber driver starting on Softs and eager to make progress.

On lap six, Hülkenberg attempted an ambitious move around the outside of Pierre into Turn 1. Light contact with the Alpine’s left-front sent the Sauber spinning into the gravel. Pierre pitted with a puncture, but the incident compromised his race, and he ultimately finished P16. Franco, starting once again from the Pit Lane, stopped behind the Safety Car on Lap 7 and again on lap 32, finishing two places ahead of Pierre in P14.

We now make the short journey to Abu Dhabi for the final round of the 24-race season, and the third race of this trans-global triple-header. We’re going to give it our all with one final push before the curtain falls on the 2025 campaign.