Alpine did the “unthinkable” with 6th in the Constructors’ Championship: Gasly

An often painful 2024 Formula 1 season has come to a remarkable end for Alpine. With Pierre Gasly’s seventh placed finish in the season finale in Abu Dhabi securing the team six points, the French team clinched sixth place in the constructors’ championship, ahead of Haas F1 Team, RB, Williams, and Sauber.

Speaking to reporters after the race, Gasly said he was “extremely happy,” admitting that a sixth-placed finish would have seemed “unthinkable” earlier in the season.

The 28-year-old also noted how the peaks and troughs of this season have been extreme, adding that the start to the year had been “very tough for all of us in the team with an underperforming car.”

Such an outcome looked all but impossible back in the spring, after Alpine’s disastrous start to the season. Through the first five rounds of the 2024 championship, neither Gasly nor his now-former teammate Esteban Ocon had managed a top-10 finish.

While there were signs of a mid-season resurgence with a string of ninth and tenth-placed finishes, it turned out there were more stormy tides spent at the back of the field to follow before the team could finally reemerge with a podium challenger.

The true turning point came in Sao Paulo when Ocon finished second and Gasly third for Alpine’s first-ever double podium. For Gasly, a fifth-placed finish in Qatar followed by Sunday’s excellent effort in Abu Dhabi capped off an excellent finish to what was a challenging year.

Three targets

“Coming here, there were three targets: to get sixth in the constructors, tenth in the drivers, and keep my nose clean so we’re still on $0 [in] damage,” he said. “And, yeah, we completed all the targets.”

Gasly, who remarkably avoided any self-inflicted crash damage this season, finished just one point above Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg in the driver’s standings.

Ocon, who was dropped in favor of his 2025 replacement Jack Doohan for Abu Dhabi, finished 14th in the drivers’ standings.

2025 will mark Gasly’s third season with the team where he will continue his chase for a sixth F1 podium and second career win. Meanwhile, Ocon is set to join Haas, where he’ll partner Ferrari youngster Oliver Bearman.

Photos from Abu Dhabi GP Race