Alpine have had a strong start to this season, their first since switching to Mercedes power units. With a settled driver line up of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, the French team were hoping the regulation change would help them climb up from their bottom-of-the-table finish last season. And it does seem to be so far, so good for Alpine in 2026…
How has the 2026 season gone so far?
Alpine have enjoyed a strong start to the year, and sit fifth in the Championship – just two points behind fourth-placed Haas.
It was clear from pre-season testing that they had made a big step forward, aided by running the Mercedes power unit. Gasly has been their star performer so far, with points in all three Grands Prix.
A disappointing Q2 exit in Australia saw the Frenchman fight back to finish 10th, and since then he has bagged sixth in the Shanghai race and seventh at Suzuka too. Add in the fact he made SQ3 and Q3 in China, as well as Q3 in Japan, and it is clear to see the team have made a big step.
Gasly even managed to hold a charging Verstappen at bay for much of the last stint in Suzuka – the two former team mates going wheel to wheel before the Frenchman came out on top.
Colapinto has not enjoyed the same success as his team mate, starting further down the order and finding it a little tougher to progress, but he did score his first point for Alpine with a hard-fought P10 in China as the team brought both cars home in the points for the first time in a long time.
It might have been even higher for the Argentine racer, but for contact with Esteban Ocon that sent him into a spin.
Things have largely gone to plan though this year, with Alpine one of just three teams to have seen both cars finish every race and the Sprint this season.
Reasons to be hopeful
There is plenty of optimism at Alpine after the first three races. They have already nearly matched last year’s points tally of 22, and in Gasly have a driver who seems to be at the top of his game.
The Frenchman is delivering on one lap and in the races too, with Colapinto showing signs of finding his stride now as well.
That Mercedes power unit is doing the business for them, and Alpine seem to have unlocked some of its potential off the line – although they remain slower starters than Haas with the Ferrari engine.
Reasons to be cautious
Some things need a bigger sample size than three races – and where the pecking order will fall out is one of them. Alpine have taken advantage of some reliability woes from their rivals, and also from the front runners, which opened up the opportunity to score bigger points.
They cannot count on Red Bull and McLaren not always getting both cars to the flag either, so Alpine need to keep picking up those points where they can.
Alpine are fortunate to know their power unit is the pick of the bunch at the moment, but that could be covering up some defects with the chassis – so the team will have to work hard to make sure that is not the case, and that they are delivering on both fronts for the next batch of races.
What have the drivers and team bosses said?
Gasly called Japan “a positive weekend,” before noting that Alpine were not that far off “some of the quicker teams ahead.”
“The car has a solid baseline so we have to stay motivated and keep working hard to catch those ahead,” he concluded.
Colapinto has noted his Saturdays as an area to improve. So far, he has exited in Q2 for all three races and he dropped out in SQ2 for the one Sprint, while he is yet to out-qualify his team mate this year.
“Ultimately, we need to have a stronger Saturday to put ourselves in a better position to race,” he explained. “Now we will use the gap in the season to work hard at Enstone and come back stronger in Miami.”
As for Executive Adviser Flavio Briatore, he believes Alpine are “in the mix” with Red Bull as the fourth quickest car.
“With the short break, we absolutely won’t stand still and will be working hard at Enstone to add more performance to the car and continue to give equal opportunity to both drivers to perform and score points,” he added.
What do Alpine need to work on going forwards?
Alpine appear to have built a fairly solid package, with no obvious deficiencies. They need to develop, as does everyone, to avoid getting left behind – and will be busy doing so in the spring break.
One thing to work on is Colapinto’s pace, especially over one lap. That is hampering the Argentine and leaving him having to work much harder to get near the points. If Alpine can start regularly scoring with both cars, the pressure will ramp up on their rivals.
