While his teammate, Franco Colapinto, was out in SQ2, Pierre Gasly put in a strong lap and put himself in SQ3, delivering a P7 for Alpine at the F1 2026 Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying. He was over 0.3s clear of Max Verstappen in the final segment.
After leaving Melbourne with 1 point as he closed off the top 10, Gasly showed good pace during FP1 at the Shanghai International Circuit and finished 10th. Still, the Frenchman improved, driving the fourth fastest car in the weekend’s first competitive session, in his hands at least.
As Colapinto was out in SQ2, Gasly put in a strong lap and got himself into SQ3. Although the veteran Alpine driver was called into the stewards’ room post-session for impeding car 3, Max Verstappen, during SQ2, the investigation was quickly cleared.
In the final minutes, Pierre Gasly managed a lap time of 1:32.888, which finally placed him between Charles Leclerc in P6 and the four-time World Champion in P8.
“I’m extremely pleased with that”, said Gasly on his performance for Alpine in the 2026 F1 Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying
During the post-sprint-qualifying interviews with F1TV, the Alpine driver proudly talked about the A526’s performance.
“Yeah, I must say I’m extremely pleased with that, especially after last week. I think we found a lot more performance.
“I think with good learning from Melbourne, tried to put everything together today and then I felt a lot better in the car, straight from the first lap. So yeah, I think it’s good to feel in the mix and be in the top ten again.”
Gasly is “confident” going into the F1 2026 Chinese GP Sprint Race
When asked about whether he believed he could score some points on Saturday, at the first F1 Sprint Race of the 2026 season, Pierre Gasly answered positively.
“Yeah, 100%. I think, yeah, as I said, I’ve been feeling good in the car. There’s definitely more potential than we’ve seen in Melbourne, so I’m confident.
“Let’s see what we get. Obviously, graining was pretty bad for everyone this morning, so it’s going to be a nice challenge, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Colapinto’s first qualifying at the F1 Chinese GP didn’t go as planned
The young Argentine driver met the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time during FP1. Franco Colapinto struggled to find pace during Sprint Qualifying. He ended up on P16, over 0.9s behind his teammate, and was finally eliminated in SQ2.
Afterwards, he reflected on his performance and Alpine’s overall pace.
“It was tricky today. I didn’t know the track and that made it a bit more difficult. I think the car was not in a bad place in P1, but just couldn’t do a step into a sprint quali that I wanted.
“And yeah, we lacked a bit of pace compared to Pierre. The car was quick. Pierre showed that he went through to SQ3.
“So that’s positive for the team. But I need to understand a bit more on my side.”
