BWT Alpine Formula One Team – Colapinto storms into Q3, Gasly stuck in fourteenth at the Canadian Grand Prix

BWT Alpine Formula One Team experienced a Saturday of sharp contrasts in Canada, caught between the spectacular rise of Franco Colapinto and the persistent struggles of Pierre Gasly.

The blue and pink outfit showed two radically different faces, yet closed the day with one undeniable reason for satisfaction: an Alpine locking in tenth place on the Grand Prix starting grid.

Saturday, May 23 – Sprint & Grand Prix qualifying

Two Alpines, two stories: Colapinto delivers, Gasly still searching

The morning Sprint set the tone. Starting thirteenth on worn medium tyres — a direct consequence of the technical issue that had robbed him of most of Friday’s running — Franco Colapinto delivered a clean, controlled drive across the 23-lap format. The Argentine climbed all the way to ninth, spending the closing laps glued to the rear of Arvid Lindblad with the eighth-place points position tantalisingly within reach, before falling just short. One point away from scoring, one length short of something more — the kind of drive that builds reputations, even without silverware at the end of it.

Pierre Gasly, for his part, moved through the Sprint like a shadow. Forced to start from the pitlane on fresh mediums after a disrupted Friday, the Frenchman finished twentieth, a full lap down on race winner George Russell. A tyre stop on lap 19 to fit worn softs generated no momentum. The team’s language — measured but candid — pointed to something more systemic: something is still not working between Gasly and the current BWT Alpine A526 package.

The afternoon brought partial relief. In qualifying, Franco Colapinto once again demonstrated why keeping him alongside Gasly for 2026 was no gamble. After clearing Q1 in 1:14.466 and Q2 in 1:13.857, the Argentine set a personal season best in Q3 — 1:13.697 across 27 laps — to land tenth on the grid. His second consecutive Q3 appearance since Miami: the progress is no longer incidental, it is structural. A sharp moment in the pitlane — a hard brake to avoid Fernando Alonso pulling out of his box — barely registered on his composure.

Gasly was eliminated in Q2 with a 1:14.187, lining up fourteenth on the grid. A damaged floor — sustained after striking a groundhog trackside during Q1, in a peculiarly Canadian turn of events — compromised the handling of his car through the second session and complicated an already difficult afternoon. Team principal Steve Nielsen acknowledged that the squad had tried multiple setup directions and aerodynamic adjustments in an attempt to reconnect the Frenchman with a car that has not felt right under him for several rounds. Progress was described as marginal — the kind of understatement that signals the work is far from done.

In the constructors’ championship, BWT Alpine Formula One Team sits fifth with 23 points. With Colapinto a regular Q3 presence and the team visibly refusing to abandon Gasly to his current difficulties, the foundations are there. But in Montréal, foundations only matter if they translate into points — and Sunday’s weather could yet shuffle the deck considerably.

Eyes on Sunday: the rain variable

Showers are forecast for Sunday. A prospect that stirs equal measures of hope and apprehension in the Alpine garage, well aware that rain can erase established hierarchies just as readily as it creates new ones. Gasly arrives with recent wet-weather testing experience from Magny-Cours the previous week, giving him a frame of reference that may yet prove valuable.

Franco Colapinto, for his part, takes the start from the top ten with encouraging Sprint pace already in the bank. Their starting positions diverge — their ambitions, for once, do not.

They said it

Pierre Gasly:

“Once again, this is not the final result we were hoping for with this fourteenth place and being knocked out in Q2. Like in Miami, I am not comfortable in the car and we need to keep working together to understand the reasons.

We decided to make some changes to the car before the Sprint to experiment with some ideas and try to understand why we are lacking pace.

Our expectations as a team are much higher and we know the package has potential since Franco once again put in a good performance to reach Q3. Tomorrow, we will be watching the sky as showers are expected. I have a bit of experience from last week’s wet tyre testing at Magny-Cours, so I know it will be a real challenge for all of us. If it rains, the afternoon could be interesting and we will see where it takes us by the end of the race.”

Franco Colapinto:

“It was a good day and a solid Saturday overall, with plenty of positives to take from both the Sprint and qualifying. I am happy and proud of the work we did as a team and I feel it is paying off with more consistent results like this one. We were knocking on the door of the points by climbing from thirteenth to ninth in the Sprint. The pace was much better than yesterday and we were able to fight with the cars around us.

I was closing in on Arvid [Lindblad] for the last point up for grabs, but we just fell short and it was a little frustrating given how close we were. In qualifying, we were near Arvid again, but they looked very competitive today and tenth was probably the best result we could hope for. We are well placed for tomorrow and, given our Sprint pace, I am confident we can get a good result if conditions stay stable.

We know rain is forecast, which is an unknown for everyone, and we will do our best to adapt to whatever comes our way in the race tomorrow.”

Steve Nielsen, managing director:

“It was clearly a better day than yesterday as we managed to move both cars forward ahead of qualifying. Franco once again did an excellent job to reach Q3 and will occupy a competitive position on the grid tomorrow.

His pace was solid and, with a smoother Friday and a better Sprint qualifying result, we believe he could have been right in the fight for points during the Sprint. On Pierre’s side, we ran several setup experiments and modified some aerodynamic elements to help him feel more comfortable in the car. While things improved slightly, it is clear he is still not fully at ease with the current package.

We need to keep digging to understand why, as it is unusual to see him so far from the level we expect from him. Unfortunately, his floor was damaged after hitting a groundhog trackside in Q1, which affected the handling of his car in Q2. Tomorrow, the weather will be front and centre of our discussions as heavy rain is forecast for Montréal.

Conditions look set to be challenging, so we will need to maximise our preparation and do our best to make the most of whatever comes our way. We are in the fight and we will be pushing for points with both cars.”

Performance table — 2026 Canadian Grand Prix

BWT Alpine Formula One Team gathered significant data across Saturday’s three sessions. Colapinto is showing a new level of consistency; Gasly is still searching for the keys to a package that has yet to respond to him fully. Here is the full breakdown of the day.

Source: BWT Alpine Formula One Team