Gasly Hits Random Drug Test Before Sao Paulo GP

Pierre Gasly has revealed he was woken up at 6 a.m. on Thursday morning by doping control officers ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend.

The Alpine driver was subjected to a random drug test under the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code, which all F1 drivers must follow.

FIA-sanctioned competitors are bound by WADA's anti-doping rules throughout the year.

This includes random tests during grand prix weekends — and even before they start.

Missing a test is treated as a failure.

The most famous example in motorsport-adjacent history is Rio Ferdinand, the Manchester United footballer, who was banned for eight months and fined £50,000 GBP in 2003 after missing a test.

Gasly did not miss his test.

He told media, including RacingNews365, that he was woken at exactly 6 a.m. on Thursday morning.

"You just made my day," he began sarcastically.

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

He added: "It was a bad night, but I love this place."

Gasly has two Formula 1 podiums at Interlagos.

His first came in 2019, driving for Toro Rosso, when he finished second.

His second came in 2024, driving for Alpine, when he finished second again in wet conditions.

"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."

The 30-year-old Frenchman also spoke about his costly penalty from the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend.

He finished 10th on the road at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

He was then provisionally promoted to ninth after Oscar Piastri received a penalty for colliding with Arvid Lindblad.

But the crash between Piastri and Lindblad triggered yellow flags — and Gasly did not slow down enough.

The stewards handed him a stop/go penalty, which was converted into a 30-second time penalty.

He also received two penalty points on his superlicence.

That dropped him from ninth to 17th in the final classification.

His teammate Franco Colapinto was also penalized for the same incident.

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

Alpine's entire points haul from Mexico was wiped out.

Gasly took full responsibility for his mistake.

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

He explained the circumstances were not straightforward.

"The crash happened right in front of us," he said.

"The double yellow was right as I was at the apex of Turn 1, and I didn't really go back on the throttle, which makes me slow down, but obviously, it wasn't enough for the stewards to be comfortable with it."

He also noted that the flag panels may have been inconsistent.

"There was a panel in Turn 3 which showed green, yellow, green, yellow, so the panel didn't quite work," he said.

"It was not straightforward, but at the end of the day, it is just annoying that it cost points to the team."

Gasly emphasized that he has always pushed himself to be strict on yellow flags because of safety.

"That's why I'm not going to argue the penalty," he said.