Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto had given Alpine something to build on in qualifying at the 2026 F1 Malaysia round, with Gasly reaching Q3 and finishing ninth, and Colapinto making it through to Q2 as he helped his teammate with a tow in the middle segment. The Argentinian then dropped to 21st on the grid after a combined 15-place penalty, five places for his Turn 1 collision in Baku and a further 10 for new power unit elements.
The race, however, told a very different story. Alpine opted to start both drivers on slick tyres when the race got underway in wet conditions, a decision that left them at the back of the field as the damp track punished those not on intermediates. Colapinto finished 13th and Gasly 16th after fighting through the field in the second half. Both drivers spoke in the print media pen after the race.
Colapinto on Alpine’s tyre gamble at the 2026 F1 Malaysia round
Franco Colapinto was frank about the disappointment. He acknowledged it was an aggressive call from the team starting from the back of the grid, and one that seemed logical at the time given how quickly he expected the track to dry. The reality did not match the expectation.
Once everyone was on dries, Alpine had very strong pace in the midfield. The problem was is they fell to the back of the group early on and could never recover to the points from there.
“Well, we were dead last after the start. It was a big pity, I think. It was the right place to make a decision like that, a risky one. I thought the track was going to dry very fast, but it never dried. It was wet for ages. There was no spray, but it was just very greasy and there wasn’t any grip. So yeah, it’s a big pity. I think that I didn’t take a lot of risks, but I just couldn’t load the car,” Colapinto stated.
“I was losing a lot of seconds every lap. And then when we got onto the other set of slicks, we were very fast. We had a very good pace. We overtook multiple cars on track and on pace. But it’s a pity, because I think we had a good race coming up for us, if we would have gone for the Inters.”
Colapinto was clear the dry pace was strong at the 2026 Alpine F1 Malaysia round. He pointed to it as a lesson for the team heading forward.
“I think now we’re there, of course, one day. In summary, it’s very easy to decide, I think, at the time. It was a nice move to make, starting from P21. But, of course, it’s not good when you finish a race and all the guys starting on Inters are in front. But it’s part of the race. They need to learn for the future and make better goals for the future. Overall, I’m happy with the pace, of course, very disappointed with the result. But the pace on the medium and the hard was very strong.”
Colapinto on driving on slicks in the wet
Asked how difficult those opening laps were at the F1 Malaysia round, Alpine driver Colapinto described the sensation of driving on slicks in the wet.
“Very, yeah. I think, generally, I didn’t want to take too much risks, because it was a bit pointless to go off on the slicks at that point. I was trying to watch what was going on in the tyres. It was like you were on ice and just diving a lot. Not a lot we could have done. I think then maybe we should have gone for the Inters in lap 1 or 2. I still thought it was going to dry. It didn’t really dry until lap 10 or 15, which was very odd to me. It’s part of the race with the heat here and the roughness should have dried very quickly. It’s part of the race,” Colapinto concluded.
Gasly on Alpine’s bad tyre call for start of 2026 F1 Malaysia race
Pierre Gasly had backed the team’s call at the time. The reality on track was far worse than any worst-case scenario they had anticipated.
“Yeah, I mean, it was a long time in the pit lane. We had a lot of time to think about it, try to look at the track. We stayed a lot of time in the box and we thought the track had dried a lot quicker. The team was willing to take the gamble. I supported it because to me it made sense. Our worst case scenario was still a lot better than what the reality was,” Gasly stated.
“When we went out there, we were losing a huge amount of lap time. Then it’s a choice of coming back on your decision and try to stay out there and make it work. We tried that and fortunately it cost us a lot of lap time. Then after all the safety car, everything went the other way. Nothing really came our way. We never could capitalise on anything. It was just very painful.”
Gasly on his car balance and the chaotic formation lap
Gasly also reported that his car felt different during the race. He had a major moment during the formation lap on slick tyres as he spun at Turn 5 and was not sure if he had damaged the car. Even in the fully dry sections of the race, the balance did not feel right.
“Honestly, we need to have a look because the car felt quite different. I was struggling massively with the balance. Very odd behaviour. I wasn’t happy at all with the car, even on the dry, I don’t really know. I had a massive off in the formation lap trying to warm up the slicks and I don’t know if I damaged anything. Generally, I think even on the dry, we’re not bad. I don’t think we had the same pace as yesterday, so we need to review a few things.”
The chaotic nature of the start procedure at the 2026 F1 Malaysia round added to Gasly’s confusion. He had little information as the formation lap unfolded.
“Not at all. It was the most chaotic formation lap I’ve had in my career. Limited information. It was very strange, but we made it work,” Gasly stated.
Gasly on Alpine’s hopes ahead of Singapore after Malaysia
Despite the difficult result, Gasly pointed to recent form as a reason for optimism heading to Singapore. Alpine has shown strong pace in the last four rounds but left a lot of points on the table at Baku and Sepang. He is keen to build on the speed as they try to chase Racing Bulls down.
“We’re fast in Baku, we’re fast in Quali here, we’re fast in Madrid. I want to believe that we’ll be competitive there. Obviously, for the team, it’s a very painful day. Even with Russell and Norris in the end, it gave an extra five points to Racing Bull for free. At the moment, they just seem to be gifted in the last ten laps of the races. It’s quite a big gap, but we’ll approach it race by race and try to close it,” Gasly concluded.
