Pierre Gasly’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend didn’t get off to the best start as the Alpine driver hit a rabbit, breaking his A525’s front wing.

But while Gasly lived to tell the tale, the same cannot be said for the rabbit.

Pierre Gasly: Unfortunately, that was it for the rabbit

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Arriving at Imola with just seven points on the board, Alpine’s only points of the season, Gasly wrapped up Friday’s running with the third fastest time behind the McLaren driver pairing.

But showing good pace, he was perhaps a tad too quick for one rabbit who was trying to cross the circuit in Friday’s FP1.

Gasly was left with a broken front wing; as for the rabbit, he didn’t make it.

F1 2025: The season’s winners and losers

The results of the F1 2025 championship

👉 The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

“Very sadly, there was – I couldn’t see it, 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,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

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

“Unfortunately that was it for the rabbit and also broke the front wing. Was not ideal but, yeah, not the end of the session we wanted.”

His Alpine mechanics worked to repair the car in time for FP2 as the floor had also sustained damage.

“I must say,” Gasly continued, “it’s quite unfortunate because obviously we always try to look after our parts and do the best job we can, so when such things happen it’s not great.

“[There was] quite a bit of damage on the front wing and the floor, some of it the guys managed to do great work [on] and repair, but I think we would have all done without it.”

Although Gasly dropped out of the top ten in Saturday’s final practice, P15, the Frenchman goes into qualifying targeting a spot in Q3 as he looks to add to his points tally.

“I think for Q3, yes,” he said. “We know that the field can have all come slightly closer together on Saturday but, with what I’m feeling at the moment, if we manage to keep that momentum, find a little bit more pace. I think we should be in the mix for the top 10 which is exciting.

“I’m pleased and excited to see the rest of the weekend.”

Read next: McLaren’s secret weapon is no secret at all