Alpine forced to complete unusual repair job after Gasly hit a rabbit in Imola

Alpine was forced to complete an unusual repair job on Pierre Gasly’s car after the Frenchman hit a rabbit in the opening practice session at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Pierre Gasly was right in the mix on both the medium and soft compound tyres all day long. The Frenchman looked very strong in the second practice session, ending up the only driver to get within three tenths of the field-leading McLarens.

However, the Frenchman experienced an unusual disruption during the opening practice at the Imola F1 round after hitting a rabbit that had wandered onto the track.

Commenting on the incident, Gasly said: “Very sadly, there was – I couldn’t tell if it was a small cat or a big rabbit, and it turned out that it was just a big rabbit jumping across the track.”

“I could not avoid it, so I had quite a big impact on the front wing.”

Alpine’s mechanics were able to repair Gasly’s car for the second one-hour session, and the Frenchman thanked the team’s work with a sensational third place in FP2.

“It’s been a very, very good Friday. 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.”