Once the summer break is over, Alpine will face the return of the Formula 1 with the need to make a statement. After several races where it lost competitiveness against its direct rivals, Pierre Gasly, teammate of Franco Colpainto in the French team, acknowledged that the improvements planned for the Dutch Grand Prix will be crucial to reverse the trend and keep alive the goal of finishing fifth in the Constructors' Championship.
The French team started the 2026 season as the best team in the midfield and even managed to be only 19 points behind Red Bull after the Monaco Grand Prix. However, the outlook changed in the last races: Racing Bulls surpassed them in the standings, Audi made a leap in performance, and Aston Martin also improved after introducing a significant aerodynamic package in Hungary.
With that scenario, Alpine has placed all its expectations on the updates it will debut in Zandvoort, where it will incorporate new aerodynamic parts to try to recover lost ground. "It's the norm in Formula 1, I think if you bring improvements you expect it to definitely get better," explained Gasly. The Frenchman expressed confidence in the work done by the team, although he emphasized the importance of the updates working from the very first moment.
"For my part, I have no doubt that it will do what the team expects, but as you say, it's important because Aston Martin improved by two seconds this weekend, they have another engine coming, Racing Bulls improved by seconds at the beginning of the year, Audi too. We simply haven't made many steps, so I think it's critical for us if we want to keep the hope of that fifth place in the championship," he stated.
The driver's statements reflect the concern within the team about the stagnation of the A526's development. While its main competitors have been incorporating evolutions throughout the year, Alpine has hardly introduced any significant changes since the Miami Grand Prix, a situation that has begun to reflect both in qualifying and in race pace.
On the other hand, Gasly also made a harsh self-criticism about the performance of the car, after a weekend in Hungary where both he and Franco Colapinto finished outside the points zone. "It's not the reality I want to see, but there's no way to hide from it," he admitted.
"It's been a couple of races where it's more or less the same story in qualifying: 12th, 13th, behind Racing Bulls and Audi. In the race, it's like you think maybe we'll be there and then I can see them, but it's pure pace and we're not there," he added.
Finally, the Frenchman acknowledged that the car's behavior also doesn't help him extract its maximum potential. "It doesn't feel good in the car either. The car doesn't react at all like I would like, it doesn't allow me to drive the way I need to, and there are quite a few things to fix," he concluded.
When will Colapinto race again
After the race on Hungarian soil, Formula 1 will take a break for the summer holidays. In this sense, the category will return in one month with the Dutch Grand Prix. The action at the Zandvoort circuit will start on Friday, August 21 with a single free practice and the Sprint qualifying, and will close on Sunday, 23 with the main race.
