Gasly enjoys ‘best Friday yet’ with Alpine despite ‘sad’ rabbit hit

Pierre Gasly labelled his opening day of running at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as “the best Friday so far this year”.

The Alpine charger delivered an impressive third-fastest time in FP2 at Imola, despite his earlier session being hampered by an unexpected and unfortunate on-track incident involving a rabbit.

Alpine has endured a turbulent season marked by poor form, internal reshuffling, and the recent resignation of team boss Oliver Oakes. But at Imola, Gasly found much-needed stability – and pace.

“It's been a very, very good Friday,” Gasly said after finishing just 0.276s off Oscar Piastri’s benchmark in FP2.

“From the first lap, I could tell the car was in a much better place than in Miami. I'm glad we managed to answer some of the question marks we had after the last race.

“Obviously, we know from Friday to Saturday, others usually keep a bit more in their pocket, but I think it's quite fair to say it's probably been the best Friday so far this year.”

Gasly noted that his confidence behind the wheel had returned at the narrow, high-speed Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

“I could push it to the maximum,” he said, highlighting a key difference compared to previous rounds.

Unlucky Hit Hampers Early Progress

Gasly’s promising day wasn’t without drama however. During FP1, the Frenchman struck a rabbit while out on track – an unexpected and bizarre incident that damaged his A525 and curtailed his session.

“I couldn't tell if it was a small cat or a big rabbit,” Gasly said.

“It turned out that it was a big rabbit just jumping across the track. I could not avoid it, so I had quite a big impact on the front wing.

“Unfortunately, that was it for the rabbit and [it] also broke the front wing. It was not ideal, but not the end of the session we wanted.”

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The team confirmed the collision caused significant damage to the front wing and floor, but despite the setback, Gasly still completed 21 laps in FP1 and posted a solid sixth-fastest time.

With his confidence restored and the A525 finally responding as hoped, Gasly will now look to build on his strong Friday form—though ideally without any more wildlife-related disruptions.

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