Alpine jumps into midfield
Alpine’s early 2026 focus and switch to Mercedes power have vaulted them back into midfield contention — Pierre Gasly says the team now believes it can mix with McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull. (motorsport.com)
Alpine signed a multi‑year agreement to take Mercedes power units and gearboxes from the 2026 season through at least the end of 2030. (media.alpinecars.com) (media.alpinecars.com) The team revealed its 2026 challenger, the A526, at a Barcelona launch on 23 January 2026 and ran a Silverstone filming day ahead of closed‑door shakedown tests later that month. (formula1.com) (formula1.com) Bahrain pre‑season work underlined Alpine’s focus on energy‑management and integration with Mercedes hardware, with structured reliability and ERS programmes reported during the test programme. (lesalpinistes.com) (lesalpinistes.com) Mercedes’ 2026 power‑unit architecture — a near 50/50 split between internal combustion and electrical output with an uprated 350 kW MGU‑K — is widely judged to give customer teams an early performance edge under the new rules. (mercedesamgf1.com) (mercedesamgf1.com) On track, Alpine’s progress showed in Shanghai: Pierre Gasly finished sixth on March 15, 2026 and team rookie Franco Colapinto scored his first point for the team, marking consecutive races with points for Alpine. (alpinef1.com) (lesalpinistes.com) Off‑track reorganisation has accompanied the technical reset: Flavio Briatore returned to Enstone as Executive Advisor in June 2024 to help reshape strategy and talent decisions ahead of the 2026 regulation cycle. (alpinef1.com) (alpinef1.com)
