Why being last is HELPING Alpine F1 team

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Why being last is HELPING Alpine

Pierre Gasly is okay with being last

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 4 November 2025 17:55

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We've all heard of 'tanking' a season when it comes to the NBA, but could Alpine be benefitting from that approach in F1?

Pierre Gasly has recently admitted that being last may not be the worst thing for the team moving forward, with it meaning that they will get more wind tunnel time than all of their rivals in 2026 to try and make developments to their car during a new generation of F1 machinery.

French star Gasly has recently signed a new contract with the team, keeping him there until the end of the 2028 season, but he will be hoping the Enstone outfit can supply him with a better car in the future.

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In this year's Alpine, Gasly has only managed to score 20 points from 20 race weekends, and his team are currently sat plum last in the constructors' championship, 40 points behind ninth-placed Sauber.

And while a repeat of the double podium finish achieved at last year's Brazilian Grand Prix would be nice this year, staying in last place could well give them an advantage over their competitors next year.

Gasly has even gone as far as saying it's an 'advantageous' position to be in.

"If you look at the people we have in this team, for me we have all the ingredients to be a successful team," he told media at the Mexican GP. "Steve [Nielsen] is great, but at all levels I think we’ve got very smart people with a lot of experience, with a successful time in F1 and that’s why I have a lot of optimism for next season.

"The people we have, I have a lot of belief in all the changes we are making. It’s quite a big change for us, also switching PU manufacturer. All the processes we are changing, the people we have at the factory, the new people coming in. It’s just something that seems to come together.

"The position we are in today gives us an advantage in terms of internal time for next year," he continued. "On paper, when you look at the situation we are in, we are in an advantageous position against our rivals."

Will Alpine catch rivals?

Of course, while more wind tunnel time would be nice, more money would also be nice, and the prize money given out to teams who finish eighth or ninth is much more lucrative than for finishing 10th.

Alpine will need a mammoth final four weekends to overturn the 40-point gap to Sauber, or the 42-point gap to Haas, and will need under pressure driver Franco Colapinto to really help Gasly in points-scoring terms.

But Alpine are proof that one good result can turn a season around. Ocon and Gasly's podiums at Interlagos last year buoyed the team up to sixth, having spent the majority of the season down in ninth.

Another result like that looks very unlikely this time around, and would still only make up 33 points of that 40-point debt, but it also looked highly unlikely this time last year.