Alpine’s Quiet Barcelona Laps Hint at a 2026 Reckoning.
Alpine completed a TPC (Testing of Previous Car) day with its 2025 machine… …teams don’t book track time in January for nostalgia. These days are about sharpening process — and Alpine needs that edge as much as anyone going into 2026.
21 Jan 2026
Alex Albuquerque
FastestLap.com

Gasly has been pretty clear about what 2026 represents for him personally, and his comments in recent days sounded less like marketing and more like a driver who’s done enough seasons of compromise. “I just care about being fast,” he said, adding that if Alpine has a good car in 2026, it could be “the first time” he gets machinery that truly lets him show “my talent and my skills”.

There’s a directness to that which will resonate inside the paddock. Drivers say plenty of things in January. But Gasly’s point is hard to argue with: in Formula 1, your ceiling is often defined by what you’re given. He’s not asking for patience; he’s saying give me the tools and judge me properly.

He also didn’t pretend to have a crystal ball on what the new rules will do to the quality of racing. “Whether [the new rules for 2026 are] going to be good or better or not for racing, I don’t know,” he admitted. But the closing thought landed with the bluntness of someone who’s reached the stage of his career where the margins don’t interest him unless they lead to trophies: “I just want to win and I’ll do anything I can do to make it happen.”

‘2026 Reckoning’;

https://fastestlap.com/news/alpines-...026-reckoning/


Briatore cast verdict on Alpine 2026 prospects with daring prediction
23 Jan 2026
Samson Ero
GPblog.com

Flavio Briatore has voiced strong confidence in Alpine’s prospects following the unveiling of the team’s 2026 challenger. Speaking during the launch of the Alpine A526 car, the 75-year-old motorsport executive, who serves as de facto team principal, detailed his optimism about the squad’s direction heading into the new campaign. Briatore further added that the blame should fall squarely on team leadership if the car fails to deliver on performance.

"I believe Alpine will really come back in performance this year,” he began. "If the car is bad, it is our fault. We did not have any problems building this car. We had the budget,” he concluded. The Alpine outfit endured a challenging 2025 season, finishing bottom of the Constructors’ standings after opting against further developments on its car and shifting its resources to its 2026 machinery.

"I believe Alpine will really come back in performance this year”;

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/briat...ing-prediction


TEAM PREVIEW: Alpine – All you need to know about the team ahead of the 2026 F1 season
After ending 2025 at the bottom of the Teams’ Championship, can Alpine bounce back in 2026?
22 Jan 2026
Anna Francis
Formula One Official Site

Needless to say, Alpine will be aiming not to repeat their last-place finish in 2026. The team are entering the new campaign with an increased sense of stability; Steve Nielsen joined as Managing Director in September – reporting to Briatore – while the incumbent driver pairing of Gasly and Colapinto adds to the continuity. With Gasly continuing to lead the charge and Colapinto experiencing something of an upturn in form during the latter stages of 2025 – leaving Briatore “impressed” – the target will be to provide the drivers with a car that they can fight with.

Indeed, this has been set out as a goal for 2026 by Briatore, while the Italian also voiced his belief that the increased stability at Alpine – along with the arrival of experienced new recruits – can help the squad to climb back up to P6 in the standings. “We are setting the team for next season,” Briatore explained. “We will have a great Mercedes engine and gearbox. I'm sure next season will be good for the team and we give our drivers the right car to compete. We are doing the best possible and my target is to be in P6 [next year]."

‘P6’;

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...Vt6tTLVrzxL7lH


Can Alpine produce a 2026 F1 car worthy of its engine?
23 Jan 2026
Pablo Elizalde
Motor Sport Magazine

Alpine enters the 2026 F1 era with a new engine and renewed purpose, hoping a reset can succeed where recent seasons have fallen short. Alpine ’s 2026 Formula 1 car launch will be one of the least celebratory of the new era, not because expectations are low, but because the stakes are unusually clear.

The 2026 car will be the first Alpine to be conceived entirely around a customer power unit, and Enstone’s first time running a modern-style customer engine rather than being aligned to a manufacturer’s own works project. The question that will frame everything Alpine unveils is whether the team has built a car worthy of what it has been given after a disastrous 2025.

‘Renewed purpose’;

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/a.../?nowprocket=1


Alpine’s Mercedes-Powered Gamble: Glory or Reckoning?
23 Jan 2026
Alex Albuquerque
FastestLap.com

Alpine has finally put proper eyes on its 2026 car, unveiling the A526 in front of sponsors and guests aboard an MSC cruise ship in Barcelona on Friday. It’s the kind of glossy launch setting the team has leaned into in recent years, but this time the car it rolled out carries a different kind of significance: it’s the first Alpine of the new rules cycle, and the first to arrive with the team no longer making its own power unit.

The timing made it feel like a coordinated bit of launch-day theatre across the sport. Ferrari had shown its SF-26 earlier on Friday, and Alpine followed with a reveal that was as much about signalling intent as it was about bodywork and paint. The A526 had already turned a wheel in public, too — it ran during a filming day at Silverstone earlier this week, a low-key shakedown that did its job: systems check, early correlation, no drama.

It’s also hard to ignore how much Alpine has been reshaped on the management side in the past 12 months. Another leadership upheaval marked 2025, with team principal Oli Oakes resigning after the Miami Grand Prix. That sort of mid-season disruption always leaves scar tissue: projects get paused, technical direction gets challenged, and the factory ends up spending energy on org charts instead of lap time. For 2026, the public-facing structure is clearer. Flavio Briatore continues as executive advisor to Renault CEO Francois Provost, and he’s now supported by the new managing director, Steve Nielsen, as Alpine tries to hit the reset button ahead of the regulation change.

‘Glory or Reckoning?’;

https://fastestlap.com/news/alpines-...-or-reckoning/


F1 car on a cruise ship! Alpine launch new challenger after dismal 2025
23 Jan 2026
ESPN

Alpine has launched its 2026 Formula 1 car at an event aboard a cruise ship in Barcelona. The team's new car, the A526, made its track debut at a filming day at Silverstone on Wednesday before the livery reveal took place on Friday. "It has been a relentless few months at the Enstone factory in preparation for the season, designing and creating the A526, together with Mercedes-AMG who will supply the new power unit and gearbox from this season; a partnership we are very much excited about," team boss Flavio Briatore said.

"It is quite rare to see such changes in our sport and ones which have the potential to shake up the competitive order. We are taking it step by step. We do not know where we will rank at race one let alone the final race. Development will be crucial and learning and understanding how best to maximise the package at each circuit will make a big difference to our success.”

“We know this is a long journey and one we look forward to taking on. Pierre and Franco have a real hunger in their eyes. Last year was not easy for anyone, not least for them, and it is our duty to provide them the car which will allow them to showcase their talent in the most competitive positions."

'Relentless months at Enstone';

https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id...-car-last-2025


Horner in talks over Alpine buy-in - Briatore
23 Jan 2026
Valentin Khorounzhiy, Jon Noble
The Race

Former Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner is in active negotiations to buy into Alpine's F1 team, according to its boss Flavio Briatore. Briatore didn't exactly refute the possibility when asked about it during Alpine's 2026 livery launch, effectively confirming talks were in progress.

"In this moment, this is a lot of confusion," he said. "A few groups - I don't know how many, six, seven; every day is a new group - every day people call me about Otro. I don't care. So [suppose] Otro want to sell their participation in Alpine. The moment somebody buys 24% of Otro, we still have 75% [the rest] and we discuss it. But for the moment, this is the situation.”

"I've known Christian for many years, I talk with Christian anyway, but this has nothing to do with me. First you need to buy [the] Otro [share], and after Renault need to accept the buyer, and after we see what's happening. But there's no link with me, because he's negotiating with Otro, he's not negotiating with us."

‘Christian Horner is in active negotiations to buy into Alpine's F1 team’;

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/h...y-in-briatore/