Gasly Holds Off Giants, But Late Verstappen Blow Hurts

Pierre Gasly dazzled in Bahrain, but a last-lap move by Max Verstappen left the Alpine driver frustrated despite a strong P7 finish.

Pierre Gasly delivered one of his best drives in recent memory with a strong seventh-place finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix — but the Frenchman wasn’t celebrating. Despite Alpine’s impressive performance, Gasly couldn’t hide his frustration after losing a position to Max Verstappen in the final laps.

“I don’t even want to talk about it!” he joked to Canal+, clearly disappointed. “I gave everything in those last 15 laps to keep him behind — pushing hard, managing the DRS, defending in the corners. There were parts of the track where he was quicker, like Turn 4, and others where I had the edge.”

“In the end, losing two points that close to the finish just hurts. But I’ve got to take a step back — there’s a lot of positives to take from today. The team nailed it: great strategy, great pit stops, solid pace throughout. We can be proud of that.”

Gasly also admitted he’s still trying to understand the ups and downs of the A525’s performance:
“I wish I had the answer. We looked good here during winter testing, so it’s nice to confirm that with a strong race. But there’s still a lot of work ahead if we want to repeat this kind of result.”

“The car felt great. Early on, I was almost matching the pace of the cars in front. We did struggle more with tire degradation, and the end of each stint was tough — especially with traction. But overall, I’m optimistic. If we can be strong here, we can be strong elsewhere too.”

Doohan Caught Out by Safety Car Timing

A Promising Run Turned Sour with Late Penalty

Jack Doohan looked set to challenge for points, running a solid race until a poorly timed Safety Car and a post-race penalty pushed him down to 15th.

“We stuck to the plan — started on softs, then mediums,” Doohan said. “I lost a spot to Esteban with the undercut, but we made the right call going onto hards.”

Then came the turning point:
“Timing with the Safety Car was just bad luck. The six cars behind me switched to softs, and even though I had DRS from Esteban, one passed and the rest followed. And then the penalty — that was just the final blow.”

Doohan had doubts about the hard tires but says pace wasn’t the real issue:
“I don’t think the hard tire was the problem — even Max struggled. If we’d had a bit more top speed, I could’ve passed him because he was clearly in trouble. I pushed hard knowing our stint lengths, and I think it could’ve worked out. Without the Safety Car, we were on for a much better result.”