Pierre Gasly wants to see Alpine fighting the likes of Ferrari and McLaren after promising start to the 2026 Formula 1 season.
The Anglo-French marque has endured better prospects in F1’s latest era than it did with the erstwhile ground effects cars.
Alpine finished the 2025 campaign, dead last, with 22 points to its name over 24 races. This year, the opening three rounds have seen the team score 15 points already. Naturally, the A526 has potential to be unlocked.
With a Mercedes power unit for the first time, the Enstone-based team has a strong package under its belts, but not enough to hope to dislodge the Silver Arrows – the runway leaders so far.
Gasly, however, believes that the team can go as far as challenging the trailing pack of McLaren and Ferrari. The 2020 Italian GP winner hopes this can be possible by the end of the summer break no less.
“I think to me, it’s not going to happen over the course of a month,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“But I would like to see ourselves after the summer break being a bit more of a player in that group with McLaren and Ferrari.
“In Japan, the gap was still too big for me to really take part in that fight, but seven seconds over 28 laps, you’re looking at three-fourth tenths, and I think that’s where we need to look at.”
\Pierre Gasly outlines promising insights for Alpine already in F1 2026
The race at the Suzuka International Circuit, last weekend, saw Gasly mount an astute defence for P7 against his former Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen.
That said, the Frenchman rued failing to make any inroads into Lewis Hamilton’s lead in P6 up ahead.
Gasly has identified the driveability of the A526, in race trim, as the key deficit it faces to its hopeful rivals up the grid.
“The car was a bit tricky in the race, I wasn’t as comfortable as in quali,” he added. “I was struggling a bit in high speed, which we know is a bit of a limitation for us at the moment.”
But for Alpine, this battle to climb up the grid is already half-won, Gasly surmised.
With arguably the benchmark of the field powering its chassis, Alpine need only focus its resources on optimising its aerodynamics to make meaningful gains.
“So, we know what we’ve got to improve, which is good,” Gasly explained.
“We know we don’t need to care about the power unit, we get the best of what is out there, and we just need to focus on our chassis and what we do.
“I think we’ve got a good package, we’ve just got to make it better.”
Alpine’s marked advantage over rivals this season
Another encouraging sign for Alpine is the overall competitiveness of its package on different types of circuits.
At Australia, a certain outlier, Gasly was able to get into the top 10. In China, a power circuit, the Frenchman took the chequered flag in sixth. Japan, a rather technical track, saw Gasly finish in the points on a third consecutive occasion.
“I’m just happy because the car seems to work on all types of tracks really, so I think there’s definitely a good boost of confidence,” he concluded.
“I haven’t been at the factory yet, but hopefully, they all enjoy seeing us fighting for this type of position. It’s quite different to last year, and hopefully, it gives that boost to really put the work in and get ourselves in even better shape in the coming months.”
The five weeks before the Miami GP will be a crucial period for the Enstone-based team to begin its charge towards the very front of the field.
READ MORE – Pierre Gasly details the ‘different league’ Alpine is reaching in F1 2026
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