Alpine's 2026 campaign has cratered. The team that started the season hunting the big four now sits seventh in pace, hemorrhaging positions to Racing Bulls and Audi. Pierre Gasly's seventh-place finish behind Max Verstappen in Japan—when Alpine was just 1.028% off the pace—feels like ancient history. By Hungary, that gap had ballooned to 2.120%, and Racing Bulls snatched fifth in the constructors' standings right before the summer break.
The culprit isn't Alpine backsliding but rivals outpacing them in the development race. Racing Bulls has brought ten performance upgrades across the last four rounds; Alpine managed six. With this regulatory era still immature, each package can deliver two- to three-tenths gains, and Alpine has been left watching others climb.
Everything now rides on an upgrade package landing at Zandvoort. The team expects it to fix the car's loose rear end and mid-corner understeer. If it doesn't, that fifth-place target—and the credibility of Alpine's 2026 project—evaporates.
Read the full story at The Race
