One F1 driver braced for “painful” second half of F1 2025 season

Pierre Gasly expects Alpine to endure a “painful” second half of the season, as it continues to struggle with the slowest car on the Formula 1 grid.

The French manufacturer has had a rough season so far, having slumped from sixth in the championship standings last year to last place heading into this year’s summer break.

Gasly has scored points in just four races this year, with a sixth-place finish in the British Grand Prix marking the team’s best result of 2025.

Alpine’s problems have been compounded by its second driver failing to feature in the points, with both its original signing Jack Doohan and his replacement Franco Colapinto faring no better than 13th in a race.

Speaking after last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Alpine stalwart Gasly said he doesn’t expect any respite in the remaining 10 races of the season, with no major upgrades in the pipeline.

However, he stressed that his primary focus is on ensuring the Renault brand starts the new rule cycle on the front foot, as the team ditches its engine programme in favour of customer Mercedes units.

“It was a very good race. It was just that we were too slow,” he told F1.com about Budapest.

“I just want to work with the team for next year. I know what we have to fight for next year. 

“I know this year is going to be painful and I don’t want to get into frustration of not having the races we would like. 

“We just try to focus on my driving, putting the best work I can for the team. I fought hard every single weekend. 

“This season is not going to be easy until  the end of the year but I just want to work for next year.”

Franco Colapinto aiming for a “reset” over summer break

Colapinto has struggled to make an impression in the uncompetitive A525, but Alpine has shown greater faith in his abilities than it did with predecessor Doohan, affording him significantly more time to adapt to the car.

He even crashed his Alpine at a tyre test earlier this week.

Colapinto said he and Alpine need to hit the reset button after a tough run of eight races between Imola and Budapest.

“I think we need to reset a bit and try to come back stronger of course,” he told the official F1 website.

“There are a lot of things we have been improving but this weekend is also a good step. We just need to keep working on it.”