00:05Alpine returned to its pre-season form in China, with its first double-point score for 2026,
00:10care of Pierre Gasly's sixth and Franco Colopinto's tenth, for his first point at Enstone.
00:17Though he ran as high as second on a long first stint on the hards,
00:21before dropping back, while Haas driver Esteban Ocon crashed into him on lap 29.
00:29The net effect is that with Gasly's tenth in Melbourne,
00:32Alpine jumped from eighth to seventh in the Constructors' standings
00:35and is now just two points behind both Red Bull teams.
00:42Alpine is enjoying a far more relaxed, consistent start to the season,
00:46with a stable driver lineup and no hint of changes.
00:51That partnership was on show at the season opener in Melbourne,
00:54when Enstone's finest met the Australian cricket team.
00:59Gasly and Colopinto climbed onto the roof of the world-famous Melbourne Cricket Ground, or MCG,
01:04for a shirt swap with international players Scott Boland and Glenn Maxwell,
01:10before heading inside to show off their race suits.
01:16So, this is our lovely pyjama we get to wear in the car, but, yeah, it's fireproof, it's quite heavy,
01:23especially when we get to, like, hot countries like Singapore, it's very humid, etc.
01:26So, we sweat quite a lot in there, especially in the car.
01:30It does become very heavy after the race.
01:31Yeah.
01:32When it's sweat, it's full of sweat.
01:35Gasly and Colopinto then headed into the nets for some batting practice,
01:39with the Argentinian looking natural at the crease.
01:42Though the pair will face stronger competition this week in Suzuka.
01:56F1 may have taken a short break between rounds in China and Japan last weekend,
02:00but Red Bull's four-time world champion Max Verstappen didn't let that slow him down.
02:07With the 28-year-old having launched his Mercedes-AMG GT3 car for May's Nürburgring 24 hours in true Red
02:14Bull style,
02:15hitting the Nordschleife for the season opener of the Lundstrecken Serie,
02:21where there was plenty of support for the Dutch megastar on the grid.
02:26Verstappen, fielding his own entry, with top sports car racing teammates Jules Gounand and Daniel Junkadella,
02:32started from pole, which they took by 1.9 seconds and led into turn one.
02:38But the Dutchman was soon overtaken on that opening lap by Audi GT veteran Christopher Haase,
02:44and only got past the German ace at the end of that stint before pitting.
02:51Junkadella took over from there, made short work of the Audi, then driven by Niko Hartke,
02:56and stretched his legs in stint before Gounand's turn in the number three Mercedes.
03:05The Frenchman fought hard with Dan Harper in the number 99 BMW at the opening part of his stint,
03:11but got his shot to pass as they approached the number 941 Adrenaline Motorsport Porsche Cayman.
03:19Harper's chance to return fire was scuppered after he made contact with the Porsche,
03:24earning himself a penalty lap loop.
03:28Verstappen returned to the car for the final stint,
03:31but just had to bring the Mercedes home, which he did, 59.5 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
03:38But while there were huge celebrations in the race's aftermath,
03:41just two hours later, the team was disqualified for having used seven sets of tires,
03:46one more than the maximum allocation.
03:49That handed the win to Rowe Racing's Dan Harper and Jordan Pepper
03:53in the number 99 BMW M4.
03:55Cheers.
03:55fav.Talk
03:56Gesetz. Cheers.
03:56Cheers.
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