(Motorsport-Total.com) – Formula 1 team Alpine missed the points for the first time this year at the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg. Now Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are wondering after finishing 13th and 15th in the race what the cause could be.
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The list of issues is certainly long. Gasly said: “Grip and vehicle balance were problematic, and we also had a lot of tire wear. I had to make three stops because my tires degraded very quickly. And even with clear track, we didn’t have the pace.”
According to teammate Colapinto, Alpine was “mechanically really bad” at the Red Bull Ring. Colapinto explained: “We couldn’t get out of the corners, so we had traction problems. When braking, we pushed the tires too hard. Overall, it felt very bad. We just couldn’t find grip.”
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Team principal Steve Nielsen shares the “honest assessment” of his drivers and evaluates it similarly critically. “We especially need to understand why this happened and fix the problems quickly,” said Nielsen. “We also need to ensure that it was an exception – and not a trend.”
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Especially the start phase puzzles Alpine further. Both Gasly and Colapinto were overtaken by several cars in the first meters. “The boost was missing,” explained Nielsen. “We also need to look at that because starts have been one of our strengths so far this year.”
What role do the technical updates play?
Whether the recent technical updates could be responsible for the performance fluctuations remains open. Gasly at least wishes for a comprehensive review: “We need to find out exactly what the new parts do and how we need to adjust the balance with them. We had already made some changes before qualifying, but obviously it was not enough.”
Alpine therefore mainly needs time to better understand the new A526 package, said Gasly. The difficulty: In just a few days, Formula 1 races in Silverstone (check the current race calendar here!). “That doesn’t give us much time to react for Silverstone – and Silverstone is also a sprint weekend,” explained Gasly. But after Spielberg, it is clear that Alpine must “find answers.”
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