Gasly and Leclerc Take Opposite Approaches to Second Half of 2025

Indeed, as the current set of Formula 1 regulations comes to a close, the midfield this year has been incredibly tight. While there have been some bright spots in Alpine's season so far – Gasly performed incredibly well in Great Britain, coming in 6th overall – the team is struggling to keep up. They currently sit in last place in the Constructors' Championship with a total of 20 points, all scored by Gasly himself. It is an improvement from the 11 points they had at this time last year, but other teams around them have clearly made bigger gains.

On the team’s season so far, he said, “We haven’t been able to provide enough performance to fight for better than that, which is fine because at the end of the day, whether you finish ninth or eighth or tenth in the championship, you’re still fighting for nothing pretty much.

“But if it gives you a car that can fight for race wins, podiums, top five next season, I’ll take that every day of the week.”

With a new set of regulations coming in next year, F1 teams have to play a careful balancing game between maximizing results in 2025 and investing in development for 2026. And for Alpine, it seems like they've chosen to put more weight on their future than their present.

“The reality of it is the car has been the same since Barcelona and will remain the same until the end of the year,” Gasly admitted. 

By shifting Focus away from the current spec Alpine will be able to dedicate more time and resources to maximizing the performance of their 2026 car. What's more, a lower position in the standings by the end of the year will afford them more wind tunnel time next year, thanks to F1's aerodynamic testing restriction system, which allocates wind tunnel access inversely to the Constructors' Championship standings. This will allow the team to refine their design all the more compared to other higher ranking constructors.

In contrast to Alpine, Ferrari seems to be taking the opposite approach. 

“When we are on track, we just want to finish as high up as possible and then we’ll deal with whatever amount of hours in the wind tunnel we have,” said Charles Leclerc in a separate Motorsport Week story. “We want to target the highest possible.”

On the issue of wind tunnel time, he added, “Wherever we finish, we’ll work from there and see how many hours we have next year.”

While the end of 2024 was extremely promising for Ferrari, 2025 so far has been a mixed bag. There is clear pace in their car, as Leclerc showed with his shock pole position and speed in the first two thirds of the Hungarian Grand Prix. However, they have also been plagued with a lack of consistency, suspension problems, and other issues within the team itself. Nonetheless, Leclerc’s statement makes it clear that they are focused on getting the most out of their present situation.

As we head into the final 10 races of the year, it will be thrilling to see how varying approaches, like those between Ferrari and Alpine, pan out this year and how they impact each team's future next year.

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Cover image via BWT Alpine Formula One Team media pool.