formula 1
Pierre Gasly got pole.
For Alpine.
Alpine.
I don’t even root for Alpine. I’m a Red Bull guy through and through. And somehow watching Gasly on pole still made my whole day. Like, properly happy. Stupidly happy. He deserves that so much.
Especially after the mess from earlier this year.
June 7. He drove a hell of a race and crossed the line P3. Radio went crazy. He was living it. What he didn’t know (because his engineer never got the warning out in time) was that he’d taken two five-second penalties for speeding in the pit lane. Ten seconds total. That dropped him to P7. The guy who actually walked onto the podium and sprayed the champagne was Isack Hadjar, Red Bull.
Alpine fought it. Filed for a review. A few days later the stewards bought their argument and wiped the pit lane penalties. Gasly was P3 again, points and all. Looked done. Felt right.
McLaren and Red Bull weren’t having it. Points moved around and their drivers got hurt, so they took it all the way to the FIA International Court of Appeal.
The final call landed on September 4, 2026. Eighty-nine days after the race. The night before Gasly’s first ever pole, at Monza. The court sided with the other teams. Penalties back on. Permanent this time.
That one hurt. Really hurt. They’d already given him the podium. Dragging it through appeal felt wrong. Shouldn’t have happened. Full stop.
And then, the next day, he goes and takes pole. First of his career. At Monza.
I can barely sit still waiting for the race. Go on, Pierre. Make it count.