Gasly hopes Japan result provides ‘good motivation’ for Alpine after ‘long, intense race’ with Verstappen Pierre Gasly reflects on scoring more points for Alpine, as the Frenchman topped the midfield in Japan. Pierre Gasly hopes his P7 finish in Japan on Sunday will provide "good motivation" to everyone at Alpine after holding off Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who "would not leave my heels all the way through." The result, after "a long, intense race", saw Gasly top the midfield in Suzuka, leaving the Frenchman eighth in the Championship standings – a fine return from the first three rounds of the season. After impressing in pre-season testing, Alpine did not quite get the dream start to the season in Melbourne, with Gasly picking up just one point with a P10 finish. But sixth in Shanghai and seventh in Japan shows just how far the team have come since propping up the standings last year. The Alpine driver had to work hard for his result in Japan, battling former team mate Verstappen for much of the race. The Dutchman did get past at one point, but Gasly was able to rally and sneak back ahead. “I’m very happy. It was a long, intense race, especially after the Safety Car,” said Gasly. “The first part of the race was good, I felt comfortable, a bit of a gap to [Verstappen] but I knew there would always be a Safety Car at some point so I wasn’t getting too comfortable. “[The] second part of the race this guy would not leave my heels all the way through! I had to check on him five times a lap just to understand exactly the gap and make sure I was pushing as hard as I could, make sure not to make any mistakes, really nail all