The sporting director of the French team revealed how the development of the new car is progressing and the deadlines the team faces before its debut on the track
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Alpine's decision to prematurely set aside the development of the 2025 single-seater to focus on the 2026 project had immediate consequences. The team ended up paying a high price: an uncompetitive car relegated to last place in the Constructors' Championship. Nevertheless, that risky strategy is beginning to show concrete results at the Enstone plant.
According to statements obtained by Motorsport, Steve Nielsen, the team's sporting director, confirmed that the project's progress is well ahead of the usual schedule. "I was at the factory last week and I was able to see the chassis," during the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.
Nielsen confirmó que ya está el nuevo chasis
"That's much earlier than I've seen before. Normally, the chassis is something that appears at the end of December or the beginning of January. So everything is much earlier, because our first test is in the third week of January," he announced, referring to the collective tests to be held from January 26 to 30 at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The executive also detailed the enormous operational effort the entire team is facing: "All the people you see here are basically going to end up in Abu Dhabi (December 7), go back home, greet their families at Christmas, and then return to the factory to build cars to test again. So, overall, it's quite a lot of pressure, not only on Enstone, but also on all of Formula 1, because winter is shorter than it has been in a long time."
Los trabajadores de Alpine tendrán poco tiempo de descanso
When asked about the specific timeline for the future successor to the A525, Nielsen outlined the schedule the team is working with: "The car will exist in one piece, not finished, but it will exist in one piece, I would say, by mid-December, because it will have to be on track three weeks later."
The sporting director emphasized that a large part of the process must coincide with the Christmas break: "If you walk through the factory now, the chassis is there, although it's not painted, of course, it's not machined yet. We have the crash test, which is a major milestone, in two or three weeks. But every machine in the factory is manufacturing parts for the 2026 cars." Meanwhile, regarding the first start-up of the new Mercedes engine, Nielsen stated: "It will probably be sometime in December, but I don't have a precise date."
Según Nielsen, el nuevo auto estará listo a mediados de diciembre
Finally, the executive also described the main technical challenges that guided the design of the future single-seater to be driven by Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly in the 2026 season: "It's important for the car to be within the weight limit, it's important for the aerodynamic load to be good, it's important for us to understand how to work with our new power unit supplier, which we will have next year. In addition to all that, as I mentioned before, we have a very short winter, because the last race is on December 7."
