Speaking ahead of the 2026 F1 United States GP, Pierre Gasly admitted Alpine is hampered by a “fundamental” limitation with its A526 that has been affecting performance despite showing competitive qualifying pace throughout the recent triple-header, while Franco Colapinto reiterated the team remains competitive.
The Alpine drivers arrived in Austin after a difficult run of races in Baku, Sepang and Singapore, which left Alpine on the backfoot against rival Racing Bulls (VCARB) in the midfield championship battle. Heading into Austin, Racing Bulls are currently 32 points ahead of the Enstone-based squad.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Gasly explained that Alpine’s qualifying performance had remained encouraging, with the team reaching Q3 in all four recent qualifying sessions, including the Sprints.
However, the team struggled to convert that pace into results on Sundays. This, combined with other factors, including strategic decisions, led to a frustrating triple header. Singapore, he explained, exposed a more persistent weakness in the A526’s race-day performance.
Gasly takes stock after disappointing triple header for Alpine
The difficult run left Alpine with fewer points than anticipated, but Gasly stressed that the team did not need to overhaul its entire approach ahead of the United States GP and the upcoming USA-Mexico-Brazil triple header.
“I mean, I think we had to look at things in a different way,” Gasly said in Austin, ahead of the United States GP.
“Looking at the qualifying, we qualified in the Q3s in all three races, four including the Sprints. So the pace in qualifying has been good.
“In the race was a mixed bag of unlucky events. Looking at Baku, the race in Sepang, that was kind of like 50-50 with a starting tyre and we got it wrong, unfortunately. And Singapore, which I think, unfortunately, highlighted the main limitation of the car that we have in the race at the moment.
“So it was just all sort of compacted in these three weeks, which obviously have been very disappointing because we lost a lot of ground to VCARB, and we expected quite a lot more points at the end of it,” he continued.
“But then you’re going, it’s not like we need to have a massive rethink about what we’re doing. There’s clearly stuff that we can improve in the race, stuff that we know we are limited, that we won’t be able to improve until the end of the year, that will come next year, especially on the tyre side. And yeah, that’s the limitation we have.
“It’s a tight battle and we’ve just got to try to find a way to put things together for Sunday.”
A526 design issue is limiting Alpine performance in 2026 F1 season, says Gasly
Gasly stated that there’s something “fundamental” in the design of the A526 that is limiting performance, suggesting there’s likely no quick fix for this issue before the end of the 2026 F1 season.
“I think there is something fundamental on Sundays which sort of makes us struggle a bit more than quali,” he revealed.
“And this compounded with the track in Singapore just probably highlighted and probably in the worst place of the calendar for us. So yeah, I’m still hopeful that it’s going to be easier on some of the coming tracks.
“But we have that slightly—I don’t know how to call it, maybe not a disadvantage, but let’s say we know on Sundays at the moment with the cars it is, it’s always going to be slightly more tricky than on Saturdays.”
Gasly stopped short of revealing the exact technical cause when asked whether suspension geometry played a role.
“No, I can’t say. But let’s say, I’ll let you figure it out,” he replied.
Colapinto predicts Alpine will need some “luck” to bounce back in the final stretch of the season
Colapinto felt Alpine needed to reset after the recent run of races. Speaking to the media, he acknowledged that the team lost ground during the recent triple header and needs a stronger outing in Austin. The Alpine driver also explained that the tight 2026 F1 calendar leaves little time to process disappointing results before prep begins for the next race weekend ahead.
“Well, I think we did need a reset,” Colapinto said. “It’s clear that we lost the last triple header and we need to win this one. So we need a kind of a stop, a reset and a start from zero again.
“And it’s tricky in F1 when everything comes very fast and you have one weekend to another, to another, and then you are in the sim. We were a long time in the factory, in between… four days after the race in Singapore and trying to find some performance for the future and trying to understand the issues we’ve got.
“So yeah, I think in general, again, it’s not to overanalyse anything. We don’t need to go super into detail of every little bit, but generally it’s been a couple of tough weekends. We mostly understand why we also were not the luckiest. That you can clearly see it.
“So again, we need a bit of luck this last part of the year, but I’m sure we can do a good end of the season.”
Alpine remains “competitive” despite setbacks
While Gasly highlighted the A526’s limitations on Sundays, Colapinto offered a more positive assessment of Alpine’s overall race pace, arguing that the team had remained competitive across much of the 2026 F1 season.
“I feel like we’ve been competitive in general on Saturdays for sure,” Colapinto said.
“On Sundays we’ve been strong as well. For the most part of the year we were up there and the races [we] have been fighting for points, we looked super strong.
“It’s true that… For me my last race is tricky to say because of the weather and the roughness of the track I think was something very specific. But then in general, again; Baku, Madrid, the hot races, when we were in all of this very hot European season and we were strong on Sunday.
“So I don’t think it’s something to be super concerned. I think we are normally stronger on Saturdays and Sundays, that’s a reality, but it’s not that we are slow on Sundays. We are good and we are again looking to extract more pace of the car.”
Regarding the performance in Singapore, Colapinto focused on the positives, rather than going into details about any potential “fundamental” issues with the Alpine 2026 F1 single-seater A526 like Gasly.
He continued: “Singapore, we were not slow.
“I think Pierre finished very close behind the VCARB. I don’t fully remember but I think we were very close. We were as quick as you cannot really overtake. Again, I think we don’t need to overanalyse it. I think the car is quick and it’s good on the races.
“We try to make the most of it.”
