Alpine star handed FIA demotion at Australian Grand Prix

An Alpine star has been demoted at the Australian Grand Prix, after the FIA handed two penalties out after qualifying.

The Enstone outfit’s first qualifying session of the year saw them pick up where they left off in Formula 1, with Pierre Gasly securing a P9 spot on the grid for Sunday’s race.

F1 HEADLINES: Lewis Hamilton summoned as FIA issue Melbourne grid penalties

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Verstappen beaten as Red Bull star suffers shock early exit

Gasly’s new team-mate Jack Doohan was knocked out in Q2, but managed to set a faster qualifying time than Mercedes and Red Bull’s new drivers Kimi Antonelli and Liam Lawson, who were both knocked out in Q1.

The Australian driver entered his home race with replacement rumours tarnishing his full-time debut, following Alpine’s appointment of Franco Colapinto to their reserve driver lineup.

Who else forms Alpine’s driver lineup?

Colapinto is not the only driver waiting in Alpine’s reserve lineup to secure an F1 drive, with Paul Aron, Ryo Hirakawa and Kush Maini all working with the team throughout the 2025 season.

Another member of the Alpine Academy who will be hoping to impress the F1 team in 2025 is F2 star Gabriele Mini, who will fight for the title with PREMA this season.

However, during the opening race of his campaign in Melbourne, Mini was slammed with a three-place grid penalty for both the sprint and feature race by the FIA.

The Italian driver, who originally claimed pole position, was summoned to the stewards for impeding Jak Crawford at Turn 4, with Mini found to be in breach of Article 31.6 of the regulations.

Former Alpine academy driver Victor Martins, has thus been promoted to pole position and will start ahead of Richard Verschoor for Sunday’s feature race.

READ MORE: Bearman causes ANOTHER red flag in Australian GP nightmare

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