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BWT Alpine Formula One Team opened its account in the very first race of the season, but it is hard to describe this Australian Sunday as genuinely reassuring. The point brought home by Pierre Gasly prevents a completely scoreless start on the board, without changing the overall impression left by this opening round of the year: Alpine endured a difficult weekend, often on the back foot and rarely in a position to naturally influence the midfield fight.
The Alpine A526 looked slightly more coherent in race trim than it had in qualifying or during some of the longer runs seen in practice, without erasing the limitations that had already been visible since Friday.
In Melbourne, the French car mainly held together better than it truly moved forward. Tyre management was cleaner over the long runs, the balance a little less fragile as fuel loads came down, but the level of performance remains too limited to call this an encouraging first sign.
Pierre Gasly above all prevented this weekend from ending on an even harsher note, while Franco Colapinto spent much of his race dealing with the consequences of a heavy penalty handed out very early on.
Sunday – Race
Pierre Gasly hangs on all the way under pressure, Franco Colapinto loses his race on lap ten
The start immediately placed the two Alpines in opposite situations. Pierre Gasly, fourteenth on the grid on brand-new medium tyres, nailed his launch. Without making any excessive moves, he took advantage of the pack concertinaing through the opening corners to gain several places and quickly move up to around eleventh, where the race could still remain open.
Behind him, Franco Colapinto found himself thrown into a far more brutal scene. Starting sixteenth on brand-new hard tyres, Franco Colapinto had to avoid Liam Lawson almost at a standstill just as the pack accelerated.
The Racing Bulls slowed dramatically in front of him, and the Argentinian had only a split second to react. He then threw his Alpine A526 to the right, into an extremely narrow gap between the car ahead and the pit wall. The move was millimetre-perfect, the avoidance spectacular, and above all decisive: without that reflex, the opening lap would very likely have ended in contact.
That scare had barely been absorbed before Franco Colapinto’s race took a definitive turn for the worse a few laps later. On lap ten, Franco Colapinto served a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for a start procedure infringement: a mechanic touched the car after the regulatory fifteen-second signal on the grid. The penalty was severe, and it instantly wiped out any chance of getting back into the points fight.
Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly capitalised on the first genuine strategic opening of the race. The Virtual Safety Car arrived at exactly the right moment, and BWT Alpine Formula One Team elected to bring Pierre Gasly in at the end of lap eleven. The gamble was clear: bolt on a fresh set of hard tyres and cover the remaining forty-six laps to the finish.
On paper, the call looked logical; on track, it mostly demanded extremely fine management over an endless stint. The Alpine A526 did not have the speed to pull clear, and Pierre Gasly spent a large part of his race defending position in a tight group where Haas F1 Team, Williams Racing and Racing Bulls all remained within constant striking distance.
Pierre Gasly could not really impose a pace, only maintain his own without damaging his tyres. That is where his race takes on value: Pierre Gasly almost never stepped outside his management window, kept enough traction on corner exit and avoided the slides that would have ruined the strategic gamble. His best lap, a 1’24’’486, ultimately says very little about his Sunday, because the essential work was done through the repetition of clean laps rather than any search for outright speed.
The closing phase of the race became significantly more tense when Esteban Ocon closed in behind him. The Haas applied more pressure in the braking zones, until a slight contact at Turn 3. The left-front wing of the Alpine A526 was hit, with visible damage to the endplate, which made the final laps even more delicate.
Pierre Gasly still held on to the flag. He covered the inside lines without overdoing it, kept enough balance despite the damage and brought the car home in tenth place. Without that clean race, BWT Alpine Formula One Team would probably have left Australia without a single point.
Franco Colapinto finished fourteenth, but his race deserves a reading less brutal than the final classification suggests. After his penalty, Franco Colapinto was dropped a long way back and could no longer build anything strategically. His afternoon then turned into a long exercise in management and data gathering, with stints that were overall cleaner than his weekend had suggested.
The Alpine A526 looked a little more stable in light traffic, and Franco Colapinto gradually found a more coherent rhythm. His stop on lap forty-six for fresh soft tyres allowed him to set the team’s fastest lap: 1’22’’926. That time still has to be put into context — fresh tyres, lighter car, quicker track — but it confirms that there was more outright speed than his finishing position suggests.
That does not erase either the penalty or the frustration of the result, but it at least provides a technical baseline to work from ahead of Shanghai.
BWT Alpine Formula One Team
The real problem for BWT Alpine Formula One Team remains that this Australian Grand Prix confirmed what qualifying had already suggested: the team still lacks a natural presence in the heart of the midfield. Yes, the race was a little less difficult than expected. Yes, the Alpine A526 handled the long runs better than it had in practice. But this was still a long way from a convincing weekend.
At no point did the Alpine A526 look capable of controlling its own race. Everything came down to adaptation, to making the most of circumstances, to the need to hang on rather than attack. Haas often looked sharper, Williams at times more stable on corner exits, and Racing Bulls remained ahead whenever a consistent pace was required.
The only truly positive note came from reliability: no serious mechanical issue affected either car over the full distance, which was not guaranteed for the opening round of this new regulatory cycle. But from a purely sporting point of view, Melbourne above all leaves the impression that there is still a considerable amount of work to do.
Pierre Gasly’s point softens the verdict; it does not change it.
Alpine Race Table – 2026 Australian Grand Prix
| Driver | Start | Finish | Strategy | Fastest lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇫🇷 Pierre Gasly | 14th | 10th | New mediums → pit stop lap 11 → new hards | 1’24’’486 |
| 🇦🇷 Franco Colapinto | 16th | 14th | New hards → stop-and-go lap 10 → new softs lap 46 | 1’22’’926 |
Drivers’ Championship Standings – After Melbourne
| Position | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇬🇧 George Russell | 🇩🇪 Mercedes | 25 |
| 2 | 🇮🇹 Kimi Antonelli | 🇩🇪 Mercedes | 18 |
| 3 | 🇲🇨 Charles Leclerc | 🇮🇹 Ferrari | 15 |
| 4 | 🇬🇧 Lewis Hamilton | 🇮🇹 Ferrari | 12 |
| 5 | 🇬🇧 Lando Norris | 🇬🇧 McLaren | 10 |
| 6 | 🇳🇱 Max Verstappen | 🇦🇹 Red Bull | 8 |
| 7 | 🇬🇧 Oliver Bearman | 🇺🇸 Haas | 6 |
| 8 | 🇸🇪 Arvid Lindblad | 🇮🇹 Racing Bulls | 4 |
| 9 | 🇧🇷 Gabriel Bortoleto | 🇩🇪 Audi | 2 |
| 10 | 🇫🇷 Pierre Gasly | 🇫🇷 Alpine | 1 |
| ≈14 | 🇦🇷 Franco Colapinto | 🇫🇷 Alpine | 0 |
Constructors’ Championship Standings – After the 2026 Australian Grand Prix
| Position | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇩🇪 Mercedes | 43 |
| 2 | 🇮🇹 Ferrari | 27 |
| 3 | 🇬🇧 McLaren | 10 |
| 4 | 🇦🇹 Red Bull | 8 |
| 5 | 🇺🇸 Haas | 6 |
| 6 | 🇮🇹 Racing Bulls | 4 |
| 7 | 🇩🇪 Audi | 2 |
| 8 | 🇫🇷 Alpine | 1 |
| 9 | 🇬🇧 Williams | 0 |
| 10 | 🇬🇧 Aston Martin | 0 |
| 11 | 🇺🇸 Cadillac | 0 |
What they said
Pierre Gasly (10th)
“That point was hard-earned today and we can be pleased to come away with it after a long afternoon in the car. I made a strong start, gained a few positions and then found myself in several lively battles on track. We picked up some damage after contact and that probably stopped us from showing our full potential.
I think we could have fought even higher up in slightly more favourable circumstances. There are positives to take away and we will work flat out this week because there is still a lot to learn. Racing is clearly different this year.
It brought a whole new set of challenges today and there are now several tactics and factors coming into play. Now that we have seen how it works in race conditions, we have new things to understand and put in place going forward. I enjoyed it, it was intense from start to finish and there are a lot of parameters for us to absorb.
Next week we have a sprint weekend in China, where we will need to be immediately on the pace. I leave Melbourne satisfied, so well done to the whole team.”
Franco Colapinto (14th)
“If we look only at the result, we are not where we want to be. However, there are clearly positives to take away from our race pace and the data we collected, which we can learn from ahead of the next rounds. Given our starting position on the grid, it was always going to be difficult, and the penalty for the start procedure infringement ultimately took away any hope of fighting further up. We win and lose together and we are all in the same boat.
I was also lucky to make it to the finish, because my race could have ended very quickly. I had a real scare trying to avoid [Liam] Lawson, who was very slow when the lights went out. I almost hit him from behind and I only saw him at the last moment. I jerked the steering to the right to squeeze through between the pit wall and his car. I think I touched the wall, but fortunately we did not suffer any major damage and we made it safely through the first lap.
Despite the result and our difficult start to the weekend, I think we can be satisfied with the behaviour and performance of the car, especially in race conditions, where we were comparable to some of our midfield rivals. Congratulations as well to Pierre for starting the season with a point.”
Steve Nielsen
“We leave Australia with a point in the bag thanks to Pierre’s tenth place. He drove a very intense race, with plenty of wheel-to-wheel battles, and ultimately delivered a solid result by showing resilience and talent in a complex race with so many factors at play.
On Franco’s side, an operational mistake led to a penalty that ended his hopes of scoring points. The team takes responsibility for that and we can only apologise to Franco, because it was not his fault. He has gained a lot of experience and I am sure he will spend a great deal of time working with the team and with Pierre on the new techniques drivers now have to implement in races.
From a sporting point of view, we witnessed a very particular Grand Prix, with different tactics and some very interesting race approaches right across the field. We are at the beginning of this new era of Formula 1 and I think we can all be satisfied with the outcome of today’s race.
Our focus now turns to the Chinese Grand Prix and its sprint format, which will represent another challenge next week.”
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Source: BWT Alpine Formula One Team
