Gasly Gets Random Drug Test Just Before Sao Paulo GP

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly was woken at 6 a.m. local time on Thursday morning by doping control officers conducting a random drug test ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix.

Gasly disclosed the early-morning test to assembled media during the pre-race press conference, including reporters from RacingNews365.

"You just made my day," he said, his tone dry.

"I got woken up at 06:00 for a doping test this morning, so I'm not in the best mood."

Formula 1 drivers are subject to the anti-doping rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which the FIA has long adopted as its own code.

The testing is random and can occur at any time — during a race weekend, in the off-season, or even, as in Gasly's case, before the first practice session has begun.

A missed test is treated as a positive result under WADA rules.

This is the same standard that led to an eight-month ban and a £50,000 fine for Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand in 2003 after he failed to provide a sample when asked.

Gasly did not miss his test.

He provided the sample, but the process disrupted his sleep before a critical race weekend.

Despite the rude awakening, Gasly said he remains optimistic about the São Paulo circuit, which holds special meaning for him.

"It's the only track where I've had two F1 podiums, my first in 2019 and then in 2024 in the rain," he said.

"And Sunday looks like it is going to rain, so I am very excited."

His 2019 podium in Brazil was his first in Formula 1, driving for Toro Rosso at the time.

In 2024, he repeated the feat in wet conditions for Alpine.

The forecast for Sunday's race calls for rain, which could level the playing field and give Gasly a chance to rebound from a costly penalty in Mexico City.

In Mexico, Gasly finished 10th on the road and was provisionally promoted to ninth after a penalty for Oscar Piastri, who had collided with Arvid Lindblad.

That collision triggered double-waved yellow flags, and Gasly — along with his teammate Franco Colapinto — was judged not to have slowed enough through the affected zone.

The stewards handed Gasly a stop/go penalty, converted to a 30-second time penalty, plus two penalty points on his superlicence.

The penalty dropped him from ninth to 17th in the final results, wiping out Alpine's points haul for the race.

Colapinto received a 10-second penalty and one penalty point, falling from seventh to 15th.

Gasly took full responsibility for the infraction.

"Ultimately, I didn't slow down enough, so I take full responsibility for the penalty," he said.

He explained the difficult circumstances: the crash happened directly in front of him, and the double-yellow flag was displayed just as he reached the apex of Turn 1.

"I didn't really go back on the throttle, which made me slow down, but obviously, it wasn't enough for the stewards to be comfortable with it," he said.