BWT Alpine Formula One Team left the 2026 United States Grand Prix with just one point, courtesy of Pierre Gasly, who finished tenth despite damage to his floor and a slow pit stop. Franco Colapinto retired after 35 laps following a collision that seriously damaged his car. Sunday’s incidents made life harder for the French team, but its problems had surfaced as early as practice. With five Grands Prix remaining, Alpine now trails Racing Bulls by 33 points, a gap that has grown markedly in recent weeks.

Kimi Antonelli claimed his ninth win of the season in Austin, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. BWT Alpine Formula One Team had rather different priorities. Pierre Gasly was looking to hold on to a place in the top ten, while Franco Colapinto, handed a ten-place grid penalty, was preparing to start from the back.

Gasly finished tenth, 1m27.516s behind the winner and just over eight seconds adrift of Racing Bulls’ ninth-placed Liam Lawson. Colapinto did not make it to the finish.

Alpine lost another point to its direct rival in the Constructors’ Championship. One point may not seem much over a single race, but it is part of a much more troubling run. The French team has scored only once in the last four Grands Prix, compared with 25 points for Racing Bulls.

There was more to Alpine’s Austin weekend than that comparison. Both Alpine A526 cars sustained damage in the race, leaving Gasly to contend with a substantial loss of downforce. Yet the balance problems that appeared on Friday, followed by both drivers’ elimination in Q2, show that performance was already lacking before the start.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team: Friday – Free Practice 1 and 2

Austin’s bumps complicate the Alpine A526 set-up

The first laps on the Texan circuit quickly exposed the Alpine A526’s difficulties.

Gasly ended the opening session 15th with a 1:37.801, while Colapinto was 17th on a 1:38.121, 0.320 seconds behind his team-mate. In the afternoon, the Frenchman improved to 12th with a 1:36.840, while the Argentine finished 15th on a 1:37.201.

Between them, the drivers completed 105 laps, covering 579 kilometres and running all three available Pirelli compounds: C2, C3 and C4. It was a substantial programme, but the mileage was not enough to find a satisfactory balance.

The Circuit of The Americas is particularly demanding in that respect. The rapid changes of direction in the opening sector, heavy braking zones and uneven surface place considerable demands on the cars’ suspension and aerodynamic stability.

Gasly struggled to find consistent behaviour over the bumps. Much of the day was spent making set-up changes aimed at improving how the Alpine A526 responded through those sections.

Those difficulties can have several effects. Excessive chassis movement can unsettle the aerodynamic platform, while making it harder for the driver to commit to each corner with the same confidence.

There is not enough evidence to isolate a particular fault. The team’s public comments do not establish whether the suspension, ride heights or floor were primarily responsible. The car’s behaviour was a problem; its exact technical cause remains unclear.

Gasly and Steve Nielsen also noted an unusual characteristic: the Alpine A526 appeared more competitive with a heavier fuel load than in qualifying trim. That was the reverse of the pattern seen at recent rounds, when the car had generally looked stronger on low fuel.

The long-run simulations therefore offered some encouragement for Sunday, without solving the lack of pace over a single lap.

Colapinto followed a different programme. The Argentine faced a ten-place grid penalty after a fourth electronic control unit was fitted, exceeding the regulatory allocation.

With a start towards the back of the field already assured, his side of the garage concentrated on longer runs, tyre management and race set-up. Particular attention went to tyre degradation in traffic, an issue the team had encountered at previous rounds.

That different preparation matters when comparing his lap times with Gasly’s. The two drivers were not pursuing precisely the same objectives during practice.

Even so, neither Alpine A526 finished either session inside the top ten. Pace was lacking, and Friday’s set-up work had not sufficiently addressed the difficulties.

Saturday – Free Practice 3 and Qualifying

Gasly misses Q3 by 22 thousandths as Colapinto struggles

On Saturday morning, Gasly set the ninth-fastest time in final practice with a 1:35.904. Colapinto was 15th on a 1:36.251.

The Frenchman’s improvement raised hopes of a top-ten qualifying result. A few hours later, however, he missed Q3 by just 0.022 seconds.

Gasly qualified 11th with a 1:35.080, following a second attempt that was considerably better than his first. He felt he had extracted almost everything available from the car.

General manager Steve Nielsen agreed, pointing in particular to how difficult it had been for the drivers to find the same balance from one lap to the next. Gasly’s first Q2 attempt had surprised the team with its lack of pace before a much stronger second run.

Such inconsistency is costly when a few hundredths of a second decide who reaches Q3.

A penalty for Arvid Lindblad eventually moved Gasly up one place on the grid. He would start tenth, despite not having qualified in the top ten on outright pace.

The elimination ended a run of five consecutive Grands Prix in which at least one Alpine had reached Q3.

The comparison with Racing Bulls was unflattering. Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad both made the final part of qualifying; neither Alpine did.

Colapinto ended the session 14th with a 1:35.722, 0.642 seconds slower than Gasly.

It was a sizeable deficit. His race-focused preparation may have affected the car’s set-up, but the available information does not allow that influence to be measured.

The Argentine acknowledged that the result fell short of expectations. He also felt that Austin’s characteristics suited the Alpine A526 less well than those of other circuits on the calendar.

His ten-place penalty ultimately dropped him to 20th on the grid.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team now faced two very different races. Gasly would have to defend a place in the points, while Colapinto needed an eventful Grand Prix or a favourable strategic offset to make progress.

Saturday confirmed that Friday’s difficulties had not been fully resolved. The Alpine A526 had improved, but not enough to match either Racing Bulls in qualifying.

Sunday – United States Grand Prix

Gasly holds on to a point despite damage; Colapinto retires

Gasly started tenth on a new set of soft tyres. Colapinto, 20th, opted for hards in an attempt to extend his opening stint and pursue a different strategy.

The Frenchman lost one position at the start but remained in contention for points. His race became considerably harder on lap 19.

Oliver Bearman attempted a move up the inside of Turn 13. The cars made contact, damaging the right-hand side of the Alpine A526’s floor.

The stewards held the Haas driver wholly responsible and handed him a ten-second penalty. They ruled that his car had not been sufficiently alongside Gasly’s to justify the attempted overtake.

Gasly continued, but with a substantial loss of downforce. After the race, he discovered that a significant amount of carbon fibre was missing from the right-hand side of the floor.

The effect on the car’s handling was unavoidable. The floor is central to producing downforce, particularly through faster corners. Damage in that area can unsettle the car and reduce cornering speed.

Alpine has not provided a precise figure for the resulting performance loss, however. There is no reliable basis for saying how many tenths Gasly lost on each lap.

On lap 24, Gasly pitted to replace his soft tyres with a new set of hards.

The stop was delayed by an equipment issue which the team was still investigating. It added another setback to the damage already sustained and reduced his chances of closing on Liam Lawson.

The Racing Bulls driver eventually finished ninth, 8.333 seconds ahead of Gasly.

Gasly nevertheless kept tenth place to the chequered flag, finishing 7.429 seconds clear of Nico Hülkenberg. He collected one point in a damaged car.

It was a strong drive in the circumstances, but there is no evidence that ninth place would have been his without the Bearman contact and the pit-stop problem. The final gap cannot tell us what an undamaged Alpine A526 would have managed.

Colapinto had an even tougher race.

Starting on hards, the Argentine tried to extend his first stint, but running in traffic made the car difficult to exploit. Its balance felt better in clean air, which was rarely available from the back of the field.

He switched to a new set of softs on lap 30.

A few laps later, he was involved in a collision on the climb towards Turn 1. Gasly was emerging from the pits as Arvid Lindblad approached on the outside. Colapinto found himself between the two cars and contact followed.

The floor and sidepod of his Alpine A526 were badly damaged. The team had to retire the car after 35 laps.

It was the Argentine’s second consecutive retirement and his third in four Grands Prix.

That sequence has hurt Alpine’s results, although the reasons behind the retirements need to be considered separately. In Austin, an initial mechanical failure was not responsible: collision damage made it impossible to continue.

Unlike the incident between Gasly and Bearman, the stewards’ decisions reviewed do not establish sole responsibility for any driver involved in this contact.

Alpine consequently finished with just one car and one additional point.

Lawson scored two points for Racing Bulls, extending the Italian team’s advantage in the Constructors’ Championship.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team – A costly run of results

One point in four Grands Prix, against 25 for Racing Bulls

Alpine’s championship position did not deteriorate over a single weekend. At the Italian Grand Prix and then in Madrid, the team had scored 14 points across two races, compared with seven for Racing Bulls. The trend has since reversed.

Baku, Bahrain, Singapore and now Austin: Alpine has scored just one point across those four rounds, through Gasly in Texas. Racing Bulls has taken 25. The gap between them has grown from nine points to 33.

Qualifying makes that decline more revealing. Before Austin, Alpine had reached Q3 with at least one car at five consecutive Grands Prix. The Alpine A526 still had enough single-lap pace to challenge some of the stronger midfield teams on occasion.

That pace, however, had not translated into the expected race results.

In Baku, a collision involving Colapinto and Gasly had cost the team a chance to score. Difficulties at the following rounds further reduced its points return.

Austin brought a different problem: this time, the qualifying pace itself was missing. Even with a final lap close to his car’s potential, Gasly failed to reach Q3.

The team therefore has two separate issues to address. One is the Alpine A526’s variable performance across circuits and conditions. The other is how effectively opportunities to score are converted on Sundays.

What Austin’s difficulties actually tell us

The bumps at the Circuit of The Americas caused balance problems from Friday onwards. Nielsen confirmed that the drivers struggled to reproduce the same handling from lap to lap.

It is the best-documented technical issue of the weekend.

It may account for some of the qualifying deficit, particularly at a circuit where aerodynamic platform stability is so important. There is, however, no public data identifying precisely which element of the Alpine A526’s set-up or design was most limiting.

Nor is there sufficient evidence to attribute the drop in performance to the Mercedes power unit.

Colapinto’s grid penalty stemmed from using an additional electronic component. It does not demonstrate any lack of engine power.

Both cars sustained aerodynamic damage on Sunday, making direct comparisons of race pace more difficult. Gasly’s lap times after his contact with Bearman do not necessarily reflect the potential of an undamaged Alpine A526.

The team still has its own execution to examine. Gasly’s slow stop was another operational issue, even if its exact effect on his final position cannot be isolated.

The overall result was inadequate, but performance problems, racing incidents and operational shortcomings have different causes and should not be treated as one and the same.

Racing Bulls has gained the upper hand over several rounds

Racing Bulls now has 102 championship points to Alpine’s 69.

The difference was not made in Austin alone. Most of it opened up over the previous three races, when the Italian team scored 23 points and Alpine failed to score at all.

In Austin, Lawson finished ninth and added two more points for Racing Bulls. Gasly scored one.

Qualifying also favoured Racing Bulls, with both its cars reaching Q3.

Recent results therefore show Racing Bulls operating more effectively. They do not establish that its car enjoys the same technical advantage at every circuit, but they do show that the Italian team has made more of its opportunities over several rounds.

For Alpine, the problem is now as much about points as it is about pace.

Five Grands Prix left to protect sixth place

On 69 points, BWT Alpine Formula One Team stands sixth in the Constructors’ Championship. Racing Bulls is 33 points ahead, while Haas trails Alpine by 39.

Fifth remains mathematically possible, but Alpine would need to recover an average of more than 6.6 points per Grand Prix against Racing Bulls to close the gap. The remaining Sprint events may affect that calculation, but not the scale of the challenge.

There is little in the last four races to suggest such a turnaround is likely.

Protecting sixth place is therefore the immediate priority. Alpine has a sizeable lead over Haas, but there are still five Grands Prix to run.

The calendar takes the teams to Mexico City, São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The next round, at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, will present very different challenges from Austin. Its high altitude places particular demands on cooling and aerodynamic efficiency.

Only the opening runs will show whether the Alpine A526 is more comfortable there. The difficulties encountered over Austin’s bumps are not, on their own, a reliable guide to how it will behave in Mexico.

In Austin, Gasly held on to a point despite damage to his car. Colapinto retired after another collision. Both drivers had already struggled for pace before the race.

The weekend therefore cannot be explained by Sunday’s incidents alone. Alpine failed to put a car into Q3 and collected just one point to Racing Bulls’ two.

Over the last four Grands Prix, the French team has been unable to keep pace with its rival in the championship. The final five rounds will test whether it can find more consistent performance and make better use of scoring opportunities.

United States Grand Prix 2026: Results and standings

BWT Alpine Formula One Team – Weekend results

United States Grand Prix – Race classification

Constructors’ Championship after Austin

Drivers’ Championship – BWT Alpine Formula One Team

Gasly’s total of 42 points is confirmed by several independent standings published after Austin. The figure of 41 points given in an earlier version was incorrect.

What they said

Pierre Gasly – 10th

“In the end, we started tenth and finished in the same position, which means we scored a point today. Considering the circumstances, I think that’s a good result and we couldn’t really have hoped for more. It’s a shame about the incident with Ollie [Bearman].

The contact was fairly light, but it caused significant damage to my car. When I saw it after the finish, I was surprised by just how extensive the damage was on the right-hand side of the floor, where a large amount of carbon fibre was missing. Given the resulting loss of performance, it’s good that we managed to hold on to tenth place. We also had a slightly slow pit stop because of an equipment issue, which the team is investigating to understand what happened.

I could have fought with Liam [Lawson] and put him under pressure for ninth, but that wasn’t possible today. Overall, I’m happy with this point, and we’re now heading to Mexico City, where we’ll see what next weekend brings.”

Franco Colapinto – Retired

“It’s not nice to be watching the end of the race from the sidelines again for the second event in a row, this time because of damage to my car. I was sandwiched between cars on the run up to Turn 1. I saw Pierre coming out of the pits alongside me while Arvid [Lindblad] was approaching on the outside.

I had nowhere to go and unfortunately we made contact. The floor and sidepod were so badly damaged that it was impossible to carry on to the finish. We’d chosen to start on hard tyres to try something different from the others, but making up places would have been difficult anyway. The car’s balance was good in clean air, but starting from the back of the grid meant we were caught in traffic and dirty air.

I’m now looking forward to Mexico City, where I hope we can turn things around.”

Flavio Briatore – Executive Adviser

“This wasn’t really the weekend or the result we were hoping for. I don’t think luck has been on our side lately. Both cars were damaged during the race.

The damage to Franco’s car was extensive enough to prevent him from finishing. Pierre also lost downforce because his floor was damaged in the incident with the Haas. He therefore did a good job to come away with a point and finish only one place behind the best-placed Racing Bulls car.

We’re heading to Mexico City aiming to improve our performance and score points with both cars, which remains our objective at every race until the end of the season.”

Source: BWT Alpine Formula One Team