Alpine enters the 2026 F1 Canadian GP with newfound confidence following their weekend in Miami.
Like many teams on the grid, they had brought its first major upgrade package to the Miami International Autodrome. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly faced an early end to his 2026 F1 Miami GP weekend. However, his teammate Franco Colapinto was able to clinch his first points of the season with a P8 finish. Nonetheless, both drivers and the team were motivated by the significant increase in the upgraded A526’s race pace.
The Enstone outfit now sits P5 in the Constructors’ Championship with a total of 23 points to its name. As Alpine enters the 2026 F1 Canadian GP weekend, they will be looking to build on the momentum at the historic Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.
Gasly on his incident at the 2026 F1 Miami GP
After facing an early end to the 2026 F1 Miami GP, Pierre Gasly is looking for a response at the upcoming Canadian GP. The Frenchman took the time to praise the revised technical regulations. He also credited them for keeping him uninjured following his dramatic incident on track.
After contact with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, Gasly’s Alpine had completed a full flip mid-air before landing in an awkward spot.
“I am definitely feeling ready to be back on track and racing again this weekend. Obviously, it was a disappointing end to my Miami weekend, not how anyone wants to end a Grand Prix, and, thankfully, I was okay, such is the safety of Formula One.”
What has Gasly been up to prior to Canada
The 30-year-old also shared what he has been doing over the short break from racing. Gasly, along with his fellow Frenchmen on the grid, Hadjar and Ocon, had all made an appearance at the Historic cars. The Alpine driver got behind the wheel of a Renault RS10 at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Gasly recounted the experience as emotional, especially since Jean-Pierre Jabouille’s son also made an appearance.
“I’ve had a busy couple of weeks since, including driving on a couple of former French Grand Prix circuits, which is always quite special for many different reasons. I drove the 1979 Renault F1 Car, the RS10, at Circuit Paul Ricard at the Grand Prix Historique, a fantastic and quite emotional event. The car won the 1979 French Grand Prix with Jean-Pierre Jabouille, and it was great to have his son Victor there to watch along as I took part in a number of demonstration laps.”
Gasly also participated in a Pirelli wet tyre test at Magny-Cours. The Frenchman spoke about how he enjoyed racing on home ground for a change. Something he missed being able to do.
“Then, I was at Magny Cours for a two-day Pirelli wet tyre test. Two awesome circuits, two very different cars, and it’s just nice to be able to drive back in France, as that is quite rare for me these days.“
Gasly on returning to racing at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP
As Alpine returns to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Gasly is looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the A526 at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP. Following his incident in Miami, the Frenchman shared that he has been looking at the data with the team to gain a better understanding of his car. Gasly added that he hopes Alpine will be able to carry on the strong momentum as they enter the 2026 F1 Canadian GP weekend.
“Now we head to the French-speaking Montréal for another Sprint weekend, I was not totally comfortable in the car in Miami, so we’ve put some time in to try and understand why. I think we have some answers, some directions to take in Canada, and the aim is to keep the momentum going as a team and deliver as many points as possible from the Sprint and the Grand Prix. I am ready for it, and I look forward to being back.”
Franco Colapinto on returning to the F1 Canadian GP
Colapinto is excited to return to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for another Sprint weekend. After achieving his second points score of the season and his best result of his F1 career in Miami, he hopes to carry on the momentum going into the upcoming weekend. The Argentinian also hopes to be able to showcase the progress he has made with Alpine at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP.
“I’m happy to be racing again in Canada, especially for another Sprint weekend too. I really want to build on the very positive weekend we had in Miami with our top-10 finishes in both Qualifying sessions and my best ever result in Formula One. It is now a year since my first race with the team, and Miami shows we’re on the right track, and we’ve made a solid start to the season.”
Colapinto hopes Alpine will be able to build on momentum at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP
The 22-year-old also revealed what he has been doing with the team during the break away from F1. He shared that not only has he been reviewing data from the 2025 edition, he has also been doing plenty of simulator work. Colapinto is excited to return to a familiar track and is excited by its layout.
“I was able to spend some time back in Enstone over the past two weeks, and we recapped the good result as well as looking ahead to Montréal this weekend with some important simulator work.
“The circuit is a very fun one, finally a track I’ve raced on before, with the high-speed long straights but also the tight corners and chicanes where we can get right up to the walls. It’s good for the adrenaline!”
Similar to his teammate, Colapinto hopes to capitalise on the progress made by Alpine thus far as they enter the 2026 F1 Canadian GP weekend.
“This will be our third Sprint event of the year, and as always, the time in the car is the most important thing. We will all be working hard to keep the positive momentum we have in the team going as we aim for another good weekend.”
Nielsen on Alpine’s progress thus far
The 2026 F1 Canadian GP weekend marks the third Sprint weekend of the season. Prior to the weekend, Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen reflected on the team’s encouraging performance at the Miami International Autodrome. He is encouraged by the progress the A526 has made with the upgrades and hopes to be able to maximise its potential in Canada.
“We head to Montréal ready to take on another Sprint weekend, the third of the season so far, We left Miami feeling fairly conten with more points added to the board after Franco’s run to P7 on Sunday for his best finish in Formula One, with Pierre adding a point from the Sprint Race.
“We were pleased to confirm that our package right now is competitive and capable of scoring solid points at different circuits. We only brought minor upgrades to the car in Miami, like we intend to do this week in Montréal, so it is certainly encouraging that we are able to maximise what we have in our hands in this moment, as we steadily build and aim to bring more performance-benefiting items at some of the upcoming European rounds.”
Nielsen hopes Alpine will keep pace at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP
Nielsen then spoke on Colapinto’s improvement in performance over the course of the past few races and hopes to be able to build on the Argentinian’s consistency in the following racing weekends.
The Briton also shared what Alpine has been doing behind the scenes following Gasly’s incident at the 2026 F1 Miami GP.
Nielsen has the same sentiment as his drivers and added that he hopes Alpine will be able to they will be able to build on the strong pace they had in Miami as they enter the 2026 F1 Canadian GP weekend.
“It was great to see Franco so comfortable at the last round, and we want him to now show some consistency and repeat that level of performance every weekend. We’ve done some digging on Pierre’s side in the weeks since Miami to understand as to why, relative to the performances he has shown so far this season, he wasn’t too happy in the car across the weekend.
“We have some ideas and evidence to suggest what occurred, and we hope both cars will be up there and scoring points again in Canada as we look to build some momentum during a very busy phase of the calendar.”
