Pierre Gasly takes a sensational pole at Monza: where does Alpine’s speed come from?

There was great excitement when Alpine boss Flavio Briatore decided in 2024: no more Renault engines in Alpine racing cars; the Blues would become Mercedes customers from 2026.

“Mon dieu,” was the outcry across France; Renault would no longer be an engine supplier in the premier class after 40 years, but success has proved Briatore right: Frenchman Pierre Gasly stunned fans and experts alike at Monza, securing – seemingly out of the blue – his first pole position in the top flight.

Let’s be clear: Gasly has finally secured the top spot on the grid in his 190th qualifying session, “after nine years of waiting”, as the 30-year-old from the former Grand Prix host city of Rouen emphasises.

Pierre is the 109th driver in Formula 1 to secure a pole position and the first since Kimi Antonelli in China in 2026.

For the Alpine team, this is their first Formula 1 pole (in their 127th qualifying session); their best result previously was Fernando Alonso’s second place on the grid in Canada in 2022.

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Monza: Das Rennen

FIA Formula One World Championship

06.09.2026 - 13:00

Speaking of Alonso: Alpine is based in Enstone, England, where the Formula 1 team has also operated under the names Benetton and Renault. The last pole position for the Enstone-based team? Hungary in 2009, with Alonso.

When was the last time Pierre actually secured pole position? Pierre starts to ponder. “Phew, that must have been in Formula 2 or something.”

We had a quick look: Gasly became the 2016 GP2 champion (the predecessor series to Formula 2); ten years ago, on his way to the title, he secured five pole positions – in Barcelona, Hungary, Monza (aha!), Sepang and Abu Dhabi.

For Pierre Gasly, Monza is a home race: he lives in Milan, and in 2020 he won his only Grand Prix at the historic circuit (with AlphaTauri, now known as Racing Bulls). Pierre says: “I don’t really know what it is about Monza and me.”

“I’m deeply moved. I’m so happy for the whole team, because I know what they put in every day. I’m happy for myself, because I’ve had to wait nine years for this moment. It’s not every day you have a car where you know you can be in with a chance of pole position. Today I knew that, and the fact that we’ve actually managed to pull it off fills me with deep gratitude and pride.”

“What a lap! The feeling in the car was fabulous right from the first lap; I could sense that something was in the air here. But to be perfectly honest: if someone had told me before the weekend that I’d take pole here, I’d probably have laughed at them. If someone had said that before qualifying, I’d have thought – hey, why not?”

“When I was fastest in the first qualifying segment, I didn’t want to get nervous. I was then able to show, with the fourth-fastest time in Q2, that Q1 wasn’t just a flash in the pan, but then what? Suddenly, I was filled with the belief that I could really do this. When it came down to the wire, I immediately sensed that I’d put in a really good lap. But it would be presumptuous of me to claim that I knew then I’d secured pole position. After all, no matter how well you drive, you don’t know what your rivals are up to. And then came the radio message saying we’d done it. What a feeling! I still get goosebumps when I think back to that moment.”

His first thought when he was told he’d secured pole position: ‘It’s been a bloody long time!’

Then Pierre admits: “To be honest, I shouted something incomprehensible into my helmet; I can’t even remember what it was. It all happened so fast. All those emotions just burst out of me.”

A lovely touch: this weekend, Pierre will be accompanied at Monza by his parents, Jean-Jacques and Pascale.

Was this Pierre Gasly’s best lap in Formula 1? The Frenchman grins: “I can’t remember them all, unfortunately, but it was certainly one of the best …”

Naturally, everyone is wondering: Pierre’s best starting positions in 2026 were P7 (in China and Japan), most recently around P10 (Belgium), and most recently in Hungary and the Netherlands with starting positions 12 and 11. So where did this leap to P1 come from?

Pierre explains: “I need to give a bit of background. I didn’t drive at all in the first Monza practice session; test driver Paul Aron was in the car. In the second practice session, I found the car’s handling decent, and I thought – maybe a top-ten finish is on the cards.”

“We then fine-tuned the set-up further for the third practice session; I gained confidence, I was ninth fastest and knew I could go even faster.”

“The car’s set-up was very good, but then the team did a truly outstanding job in qualifying. I was always on the track at the best possible moment, so I wasn’t held up and could benefit from slipstream, most recently behind Hamilton. The car’s balance was better than ever; I really felt at one with the car. So there isn’t just one single reason why we were able to perform so well here – it’s a combination of several factors.”

How does Gasly plan to approach the Grand Prix? “I just want to enjoy pole position with my team for now; I don’t want to burden myself with thoughts of what might happen in the race. I know that we’re probably not quite as fast as the best race cars over a long run, but on the other hand, I’ll naturally put up as much of a fight as possible – I want to get off to a good start and take the lead, and then someone will have to take it off me first!”