Gasly’s Imola practice interrupted by unscheduled “pit stop” after hitting a rabbit

21:48, 16 May

bySienna Ionta

In an unusual incident during the first practice session at the 2025 Imola Grand Prix, Alpine's Pierre Gasly suffered damage to his car after colliding with a rabbit on track. The unexpected encounter resulted in damage to his car.

Before a strong performance for Gasly in FP2, setting the third fastest lap behind the Mclaren's, his first session was disrupted when a small animal suddenly appeared on the track at Imola.

The incident occurred midway through the session, catching Gasly off guard as the small animal suddenly appeared on the track at Imola. The collision not only disrupted his running but also raised concerns about wildlife safety and track security during race weekends.

“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,” Gasly told the official F1 channel, “I could not avoid it, so I had quite a big impact on the front wing."

The French team were able to fix Gasly's car back in the garage despite the damage inflicted.

Despite the loss, a good day

Later on in the day Gasly recovered with a strong performance in FP2.

“It’s been a very, very good Friday,” he said in regards to the start of the Imola GP weekend.

“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."

Last week in Miami Gasly finished in P13, the French driver hopes to pick up some points for Alpine this time around in Imola.