The first race of the season in Bahrain saw Max Verstappen and Red Bull resume their dominance from last year. The next big takeaway from Sunday was Fernando Alonso and his heroics. Alonso once again took to the podium after a long time. The fashion in which he reached there was a testament to his superior racing abilities at 41 years of age. However, amidst all this, a story of a great comeback took a backseat. That story was about Pierre Gasly and how the Frenchman managed to score points despite starting from the back of the grid.

Gasly’s Alpine put some blistering pace on display as he played an intelligent hand in Sakhir. Gasly lacked the pace during qualifying on Saturday and bowed out just after Q1. His Alpine debut was about to get worse as the stewards ruled that they would delete his lap time owing to him exceeding the track limits. Resultantly, he started out from the back on Sunday. However, a composed yet brave drive saw him finish P9. After his heroics, his race engineer congratulated him. In response, Gasly too praised the team for their work, but put up a challenge for them.

Pierre said on the team radio, “Yeah, thanks guys. Really good strategy, really good pit stops. I must say that was fun! Nice race car, so if we start further up the grid we’ll fight for bigger points. But yeah, nice recovery. We’ve got some work to do, but it’s a good start.”

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Gasly’s drive was particularly important as his teammate, Esteban Ocon, was going through a bad day at the office. Esteban picked up three time penalties for multiple violations that eventually saw him drop down the grid only to DNF and score no points despite starting the race from P9.

How Pierre Gasly showed his experience on the track to score some crucial points

While both Alpine cars are the same, like any other team, they are both tweaked to the liking of their drivers. For some reason, Gasly’s car lacked the pace for one-lap qualifying runs. Esteban, on the other hand, was mighty quick on Saturday. Speaking post-race with the media, Gasly admitted he was frustrated with himself and knew there was no other way than scoring points to change his mood.

RacingNews365 quoted him as saying, “It was important to make up for it today and it was a lot of fun and a race where lots could happen.”

“You’ve got to keep your head together, stay calm, push when it is time to push, and keep the tires until it is the right time. So that is what I tried to do.”

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It will be interesting to see how much Alpine can improve. And get the Frenchman’s pace up for qualifying in Saudi Arabia. Because if they are to match their last year’s performance, they need both their drivers to fire on all cylinders.