BWT Alpine Formula One Team – Pierre Gasly 11th, Franco Colapinto retires at the Singapore GP

BWT Alpine Formula One Team left the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix empty-handed after a weekend which promised rather more than the final classification suggested. Pierre Gasly qualified eighth, inherited seventh on the grid and eventually finished 11th, while Franco Colapinto suffered his second retirement of the weekend. At Marina Bay, the Alpine A526 showed genuine single-lap pace, but its shortcomings over a race distance proved considerably harder to disguise.

Held from 9 to 11 October, the Singapore round followed the Sprint format, leaving teams with just one practice session before competitive running began. Friday brought Free Practice and Sprint Qualifying, Saturday featured the Sprint and Grand Prix Qualifying, and Sunday’s 62-lap race provided the final verdict on a demanding weekend under the floodlights.

For BWT Alpine Formula One Team, the frustration was compounded by the performance of its midfield rivals. Racing Bulls and Audi converted their opportunities into valuable championship points, while Max Verstappen completed a commanding weekend with victories in both the Sprint and Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli joined him on Sunday’s podium.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team : Friday 9 October – Free Practice and Sprint Qualifying

Gasly makes an encouraging start as Colapinto narrowly misses the Sprint Qualifying top ten

There is little room for experimentation at Marina Bay, particularly on a Sprint weekend. With only an hour of practice available, BWT Alpine Formula One Team had to establish a workable set-up for the Alpine A526 while assessing tyre behaviour and preparing for the first qualifying session of the weekend.

The 4.940-kilometre street circuit places a premium on front-end confidence, traction out of slow corners and braking stability. Its succession of low-speed turns also makes rear-tyre management a significant consideration, especially when drivers begin pushing towards the limits in qualifying.

Pierre Gasly made a promising start, setting the ninth-fastest time in Free Practice with a 1:34.038. The Frenchman appeared reasonably comfortable on the medium compound, providing the team with an encouraging baseline. Franco Colapinto endured a more difficult session, finishing 19th with a 1:34.983, 0.945 seconds behind his team-mate.

Gasly carried that competitiveness into Sprint Qualifying, progressing through SQ1 and SQ2 to secure a place in the final ten. However, his session ended without a representative SQ3 time. The switch to soft tyres brought a marked reduction in grip compared with the medium compound, leaving him tenth on the Sprint grid.

Colapinto, meanwhile, recovered from a difficult opening practice session to produce a more competitive showing in Sprint Qualifying. Despite interruptions during SQ1, the Argentine reached SQ2 and recorded a 1:33.249. That left him 11th, less than a tenth of a second away from joining Gasly in SQ3.

Both Alpine A526 cars were therefore positioned just outside the Sprint points, with Gasly tenth and Colapinto immediately behind. Given the limited overtaking opportunities around Marina Bay, a clean start and consistent tyre performance would be essential if either driver was to move forwards.

Friday had nevertheless raised an important question. The Alpine A526 appeared capable of competing in the midfield on medium tyres, yet Gasly’s difficulties on the soft compound suggested its operating window was far from straightforward. Understanding that difference became an immediate priority ahead of Saturday’s sessions.

Saturday 10 October – Sprint and Grand Prix Qualifying

Wet-weather frustrations and a mechanical setback precede Gasly’s impressive Q3 performance

Saturday was a day of contrasting fortunes for BWT Alpine Formula One Team. The Sprint exposed further difficulties, including a mechanical failure for Colapinto, before Gasly delivered an impressive qualifying lap to give the Enstone squad a realistic opportunity of scoring points on Sunday.

Wet conditions greeted the drivers for the Sprint, prompting both Alpine A526 cars to start on fresh intermediate tyres. Gasly lined up tenth, with Colapinto 11th, as the field prepared for a race in which visibility, grip and track position were all likely to prove decisive.

The opening stages were eventful, with incidents affecting several drivers, including George Russell’s early exit while running at the front. For Alpine, however, the greater concern was its own lack of performance and reliability.

Gasly struggled with a shortage of straight-line power, leaving him unable to mount a sustained challenge against the cars ahead. He nevertheless gained one position to finish ninth, recording a personal fastest lap of 1:47.776 and missing out on Sprint points by a single place.

That result was particularly costly in the context of the midfield battle. Liam Lawson finished fifth for Racing Bulls, Oliver Bearman sixth for Haas and Nico Hülkenberg seventh for Audi. Each had secured a result which Alpine was unable to match.

Colapinto’s Sprint ended almost as soon as it had begun. Having started 11th, the Argentine suffered a complete loss of power and was forced to stop without recording a timed lap. The team suspected a battery-system issue and replaced the affected component before Grand Prix Qualifying.

Although the repairs allowed Colapinto to return to action later in the day, they added to the workload of a garage already trying to extract more performance from the Alpine A526.

Gasly delivers in Q3 while rear-end instability hampers Colapinto

With the circuit sufficiently dry for slick tyres, attention turned to the qualifying session that would determine Sunday’s grid. Gasly built his pace through Q1 and Q2 before producing a 1:32.225 in Q3, securing eighth place on the timesheets.

It was a committed lap around a circuit that offers virtually no margin for error. Gasly pushed close to the barriers on his final attempt, extracting enough from the Alpine A526 to finish ahead of the Racing Bulls cars. Following a grid penalty for George Russell, the Frenchman was promoted to seventh for the Grand Prix.

For a team struggling to turn qualifying pace into championship points, seventh on the grid represented a valuable opportunity. It also underlined the difference between what Gasly could achieve over a single lap and the uncertainties surrounding the car’s race performance.

Colapinto’s session proved less productive. After showing reasonable pace in Q1, he encountered a worsening balance in Q2, with the rear of the Alpine A526 becoming increasingly difficult to manage. The problem was particularly apparent during his final run, when a brush with the wall in the last sector added to the difficulties he had already experienced earlier in the lap.

His 1:33.787 left him 16th in qualifying, although the subsequent grid changes promoted him to 15th for Sunday’s race.

Elsewhere, Verstappen claimed pole position ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari looked competitive, while Mercedes and McLaren remained firmly involved in the fight at the front.

For Alpine, the focus was more immediate. Could Gasly hold his position against Racing Bulls and Audi once fuel loads increased and tyre degradation became a factor? Saturday had provided encouraging evidence of outright speed, but relatively little reassurance about how the Alpine A526 would behave across a full Grand Prix distance.

Sunday 11 October – Singapore Grand Prix

Gasly slips out of the points as traction problems undermine Alpine’s race

Seventh on the grid at Marina Bay should have given Pierre Gasly a strong platform from which to challenge for points. Instead, Sunday’s Grand Prix exposed precisely the weaknesses BWT Alpine Formula One Team had feared, as poor traction and rear-tyre degradation gradually eroded the advantage earned in qualifying.

Both drivers started on fresh medium tyres, a choice which offered some strategic flexibility on a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult and track position can dictate much of the afternoon’s running.

Gasly’s problems began almost immediately. Lacking power on the run away from the grid, he lost positions to Liam Lawson and Nico Hülkenberg, two drivers who would ultimately prove important reference points in Alpine’s midfield battle.

Once the race settled, the Frenchman struggled to recover the lost ground. The Alpine A526 lacked traction through the slower corners, placing additional stress on its rear tyres. As the stint developed, degradation became increasingly difficult to manage, preventing Gasly from maintaining the pace of the cars ahead.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team brought him into the pits on lap 29, replacing his medium tyres with a fresh set of softs. The change offered an opportunity to improve his pace, but it was not enough to reverse the overall trend.

Gasly eventually finished 11th, one lap behind race winner Max Verstappen, with a personal fastest lap of 1:37.390. Having started seventh, he was left outside the points despite one of his stronger qualifying performances of the recent run of races.

The results of Alpine’s immediate rivals made the outcome all the more disappointing. Lawson finished seventh, Hülkenberg eighth and Isack Hadjar tenth, with each collecting championship points. Gasly had started ahead of several of those competitors but could not match their pace over the race distance.

Colapinto’s promising start ends with a suspected transmission failure

Franco Colapinto’s race had begun more positively. Starting 15th on fresh medium tyres, the Argentine made a strong getaway and gained several places during the opening exchanges.

Progress became more difficult once the field settled into a rhythm. Colapinto found himself following another car, with the narrow confines of Marina Bay offering few realistic opportunities to make a pass.

As the team considered his pit-stop timing and the next phase of its strategy, Colapinto reported a mechanical problem which forced him to stop the Alpine A526. BWT Alpine Formula One Team suspected a transmission-related failure, although the precise cause had not been confirmed in the team’s initial assessment.

It was a second retirement in as many races for the Argentine, following Saturday’s suspected battery issue. Beyond the immediate disappointment of another lost opportunity, the two failures presented an unwelcome reliability concern for an outfit which had regarded that area as one of its strengths during the season.

Verstappen wins as Racing Bulls and Audi strengthen their position

At the front, Verstappen controlled the 62-lap contest to claim his first Singapore Grand Prix victory, finishing 7.335 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Antonelli completed the podium, 24.573 seconds behind the winner, while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured fourth and fifth for McLaren.

For BWT Alpine Formula One Team, however, the more consequential results came further down the order. Lawson’s seventh place delivered six points for Racing Bulls, Hülkenberg added four for Audi in eighth, and Hadjar claimed the final point in tenth.

Haas also left the Grand Prix without points, with Oliver Bearman 12th and Esteban Ocon 13th. Yet Alpine was unable to capitalise on that result, having already lost ground to other teams in the midfield fight.

Singapore provided another reminder that qualifying speed counts for little if a car cannot look after its tyres and deliver consistent traction over a full race distance. For Gasly and Colapinto, it was a weekend in which opportunities had appeared within reach, only to disappear when the points were actually at stake.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team – Qualifying pace remains, but race performance is holding the team back

The Singapore weekend highlighted an increasingly familiar problem for BWT Alpine Formula One Team. The Alpine A526 has demonstrated that it can be competitive over a single lap, yet that pace has not consistently translated into results on Sunday.

Gasly reached Q3 three times across the recent run of three Grands Prix, or four qualifying final segments when Singapore’s Sprint Qualifying is included. Despite that encouraging record, the team emerged from the sequence without adding to its championship tally.

Rear traction appears to be one of the areas requiring particular attention. On a circuit dominated by slow-speed acceleration zones, any difficulty transferring power to the track can increase wheelspin, raise tyre temperatures and accelerate degradation. Those effects are consistent with the symptoms Gasly experienced, although the underlying technical causes will require further investigation.

It is a weakness that becomes especially costly when Racing Bulls and Audi are able to maintain competitive race pace. Both teams converted their opportunities into points in Singapore, whereas Alpine could not protect a stronger starting position.

Reliability is another immediate concern. Colapinto’s Sprint stoppage and Grand Prix retirement will require detailed analysis, particularly as the suspected faults involved different systems. Steve Nielsen has indicated that further components are being prepared to improve the competitiveness of both cars, adding another important element to the team’s development programme.

For the Enstone operation, these are familiar pressures in an unfamiliar regulatory era. The British base, which previously housed Benetton and Renault F1 Team, contributed to world championship successes with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. Its history is substantial, but Formula 1 offers little comfort in past achievements when current rivals are collecting points.

What matters now is whether the team can address the gap between qualifying and race performance. Gasly has shown that the Alpine A526 can occasionally challenge the leading midfield runners on Saturday. Delivering the same competitiveness on Sunday remains the more difficult task.

Looking ahead – Alpine needs more than qualifying speed

The 2026 Singapore Grand Prix will go down as another missed opportunity for BWT Alpine Formula One Team. Gasly had put himself in a position to score, but a difficult start, inadequate traction and excessive rear-tyre degradation left him 11th. Colapinto, meanwhile, was denied the chance to complete the race by another suspected mechanical failure.

The next sequence of races in the Americas offers an opportunity to respond. Planned developments may help improve the Alpine A526, but the team must also establish why its performance deteriorates over longer runs and ensure that both cars can complete race distances reliably.

There is enough single-lap speed to suggest the underlying potential has not disappeared. The challenge for Enstone is to make that potential count when the chequered flag falls. With its midfield rivals continuing to score, BWT Alpine Formula One Team cannot afford many more weekends like Singapore.

What They Said

Pierre Gasly – 11th

“It’s a disappointing result today and, once again, our race really wasn’t good. The start was difficult, I was lacking power off the line and Liam [Lawson] and Nico [Hülkenberg] managed to overtake me and stay ahead. On circuits that place a lot of demand on the rear tyres, like this one, we clearly have traction issues which are really starting to hurt us.

We simply used up our rear tyres, we couldn’t keep up with our rivals, and that caused us to drop back and finish outside the points. We really need to spend time on this problem to understand it properly and try to address it quickly. We have every reason to be frustrated after these three races. I’ve reached Q3 three times, four if you include this weekend’s Sprint Qualifying, and we’ve come away empty-handed.

We seem to be struggling over a race distance and we’ll have to turn that around if we want to fight with the competitors ahead of us. Given our single-lap performance, I’m confident for the next three races if we can sort out certain things and continue improving the car.”

Franco Colapinto – Retired

“It’s frustrating not to have been able to finish the race again today after a suspected transmission problem. Motorsport is sometimes like that and reliability has been one of our strengths this year, so I know the team will analyse the causes of this issue and put the necessary solutions in place. I made a good start, overtook a few cars, and then we followed the car ahead because overtaking is so difficult here.

When we were considering a pit stop and the next part of our strategy, I felt something and it was clear that we had to stop. Overall, these last few weekends have been difficult and we’ve come away without a single point. We’ve lost ground in the championship, which makes our task harder, but our pace allows us to remain optimistic about our chances of being competitive and fighting for points in the remaining races.

The next three races are one of the periods of the year I look forward to most, closer to home, on the American continent, where I can really feel the energy of the fans. We’ll continue to give everything and we won’t give up on our objective as a team.”

BWT Alpine Formula One Team – 2026 Singapore Grand Prix Results

The table below details the performances of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto in the Alpine A526 throughout the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, from Friday’s Free Practice session to Sunday’s race. Qualifying positions reflect the timesheet classification before subsequent grid adjustments.

Following grid adjustments, Pierre Gasly started Sunday’s Grand Prix from seventh position, with Franco Colapinto lining up 15th.

Sources: BWT Alpine Formula One Team / FIA