Pierre Gasly

2025 Pre-Season testing now over after three good days for the Alpine guys #7 Jack Doohan and #10 Pierre Gasly in Bahrain where Pierre was always on track in between the Top 5-10 (no problem with that Renault engine there) and Jack making the most out of these difficult situations even with mixed conditions so he can manage practice and qualifying better with traffic around him next time that can translate into good race results.

He had to go through that when he was thrown into the deep end on his unexpected debut at Abu Dhabi back in December – imagine what could’ve happened if he started a bit further up the grid and finish more like closer to Top 10.

Gotta say being 12th fastest on top of 5th if it’s just the AM session ain’t bad to finish off Friday and the whole three-day’s worth of work thanks to his crew behind the scenes. Now he knows what to do as soon he’s back in that A525 in a few weeks time at Albert Park in Melbourne – his home Grand Prix track, how special is that to begin the new season!

Sure he will keep his head focused with confidence both for his Aussie and race fans as well as the few hundred staff working with Jack at Alpine for Team Enstone and Viry-Chatillon.

Looks like Jack Doohan has been improving on what has been a top Day 2’s work of pre-season testing for Alpine-Renault & he was 8th fastest of 1.30.368 after 80 laps just ahead of team-mate Pierre – just 1.0s behind Carlos Sainz Jr. who topped the charts at Williams also with a Mercedes engine.

When there was rain earlier in the day coupled other than an odd slip up or two through at some corners, Jack did indeed made the most out of his afternoon/evening shift. And yes, he can be so damn good to post a decent enough time through one lap for sure – just have a look back at his junior career in Formula 2 and 3.

You might think they’ve promoted him to a race seat just because the team has no other option & then later Franco pops up out of nowhere but at the end of the day, he’s more than ready to make his seat his own with as long as he gets good race results under his No.7 A525 since there’s only 20 cars out fighting Top 7-10 points.

Let’s hope Jack can stay that way going into the third and final day’s pre-season work tomorrow.

Okay, it’s only Day 1 of pre-season testing out of 3 in Bahrain but safe to say it’s an encouraging first few steps so far for Jack Doohan who wasn’t bad in the morning shift of 1.31.841 that puts him 14th out of the 20 cars running out on track. 

At least he’s evaluating what’s his best setup for the A525 chassis so far as if he’s back to school to start the new year at a new higher grade that will help him get a better idea when he will be running the afternoon session for Day 2 of 3 tomorrow. 

Remember come qualifying and race day when others crash out or unable to go mechanically & he’s still on, things could go his way after all – don’t forget that.

And there’s always the more experienced Pierre getting the best out of that Renault engine once again and he was 6th fastest of 1.31.353 – goes to show he does mean business when running up front like we saw at the final few races of last season.

Lots more to come on Day 2 tomorrow with Pierre in the morning & Jack back in the afternoon/evening.

Pre season about to start not too long from now (at the time of writing but just already underway) in Bahrain with Jack up first to find his best lap times possible and Pierre will also have his turn to hopefully see himself on par with at least some of the front-running/Top 4 teams later today.

It’s about time now for Jack right from the word go as soon as he leaves his work garage and pit lane under this all-new No.7 Alpine-Renault A525 chassis.

Also nice to see the Renault R5 Turbo 3E (their flagship hatchback model twinning with the sporty Alpine A290) branding instead of the E-Tech one from the last few years.

Here it is…the Alpine A525.

Looks a whole lot pink as always thanks to title sponsor BWT that mix and matches well with the iconic French racing blue.

Gonna miss BP/Castrol as well as the Renault E-Tech branding even though it will be the last year they will be using their own Renault engines but let’s get behind Jack as he’s got a lot to prove over the next few weeks and months especially when his next race (Aus GP) will be on home soil come Sunday, March 16 at Albert Park.

No matter what happens I’m sure Jack will be a great team-mate with the more experienced Pierre Gasly – seems they get along pretty well on paper. As said, all he has to do is back up with some solid Top 7-10 results right from the word go including his lap times in practice & qualifying (needs to happen ASAP or else…) and sure he will be able stick around long enough from here at Team Enstone (whole lot iconic there). 

He’s the first driver to come through their own academy which is something we should be proud of but still long way to go towards proving everyone wrong if he was to survive and keep his seat after 5-6 races – up to Jack to make things right now in this A525.

This week was a huge week for Alpine-Renault’s No.7 Jack Doohan from celebrating his 22nd birthday the other day to turning up straight at work aka pre-season duty for his first seat fit in Enstone with a new-look hair cut. 

I guess he will want to go a bit more faster then who would want to stick what worked well him in the past – probably to match his personal best on raw pace through one lap, especially when it comes to a full race weekend which is very important for Jack.

Then there’s him stopping by at the office with the man currently running the show that knows about the history of Enstone all too well even though he’s not really Team Principal these days – Flavio Briatore.

Looking forward to the new car reveal soon (A525 chassis) + pre-season testing while Jack is on it working hard every day & always be in the points soon with Pierre.