Alpine Racing presented its 2026 F1 car and livery in a launch event aboard MSC Europa to start its new partnership with Mercedes-Benz.
After the big decision of letting go its Renault power unit division to develop F1 engines, Alpine entered in discussions with several partners before signing a deal with Mercedes. The French manufacturer took the customer route to become a team like McLaren.
Despite resistance from its employees, Alpine finalised the deal and will start a new journey with Mercedes from F1 2026 onward. They already completed a filming run in a wet Silverstone couple of days back and launched its revised livery for the new season aboard MSC Europa in Spain.
They retain the pink of BWT, while Alpine’s corporate blue remains as well. The vibe is similar on the driver end too after retaining the services of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, while letting go of Jack Doohan. The Australian couldn’t secure a return in 2025 and will move to race in Japan.
Having sacrificed while of 2025, Alpine will look to start well in 2026, especially to break into the top half of midfield pack. “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for BWT Alpine Formula One Team,” said Flavio Briatore. “It is with great pleasure to begin our season here in Barcelona with our partner MSC Cruises on board the MSC World Europa as we prepare for what will undoubtedly be a unique season in Formula One history, not least for us with the new technical regulations, which offer a clean sheet of paper and a great opportunity for us to be more competitive than previous campaigns.
“It has been a relentless few months at the Enstone factory in preparation for the season, designing and creating the A526, together with Mercedes-AMG who will supply the new power unit and gearbox from this season; a partnership we are very much excited about. To be joined by so many of our partners including title partner BWT, our hosts MSC Cruises and premium partner Eni at this event, where we unveil our livery, is just fantastic. I thank them all, both new partners, and existing ones, for their commitment to the team, especially after our challenges on track last year.”
On the driver side, Gasly said: “This is the first time in my career where the entire car has had such significant changes. Of course, everyone heads into this unknown territory, but, as a driver, I find that so exciting. This has been a long road for the team to reach this point. We have been working hard on the simulator over the past year in preparation for these new regulations and I know everyone at Enstone has worked extremely hard to develop the best possible package.
What we see in the first few weeks of the year, beginning with the shakedown next week, will be interesting but this is not the final product as we will continue to learn and develop the entire package each time we’re on track. I am not setting myself any expectations. It will be a case of working really hard with the team to understand areas to improve and we will take it day by day and just try to be as competitive as we can throughout the year. Of course, I am excited and optimistic, but very much realistic in my ambitions. Right now, my feeling is of immense pride that the team has reached all its milestones in preparing the A526.”
And Colapinto added: “Firstly, I am so excited. For the first time in my career, I have had a proper off-season in preparation for a full-time year right from testing and the first race. For me, this is really important as I feel a real part of the project and it means I can really work hard with everyone at the team from the beginning. We have had a good chance to see the car and prepare on the simulator. Of course, it is very different to anything I have experienced so far and I think that is the same for most drivers on the grid.
“There are new tricks and new challenges to learn to extract the most from the package and I see that as a truly amazing challenge. I know everyone at the team is extremely motivated to have a good season. I will just try to learn as much as possible in the early races, keep building, keep growing and hopefully that will mean we can be competitive as a team.”
Alpine also informed that Paul Aron will continue as reserve for the 2026 F1 season, with Kush Maini to continue his role as reserve and academy driver, racing in the F2 season. “I am super excited to be part of this new era of Formula One and I am looking forward to learning as much as possible,” said Aron.
“As Reserve Driver it will be important to learn the new systems quickly and spend a lot of time in the simulator to help the team develop quickly. I am excited by that opportunity and I cannot wait for the season to begin.”
Here’s news on technological partnership with Indra Group: https://media.alpinecars.com/bwt-alpine-formula-one-team-announces-technological-partnership-with-indra-group/?lang=eng
Here’s Alpine announces Jack Doohan’s exit
2026 F1 livery reveals so far –