Pierre Gasly is confident with the direction towards F1 2026, even though it meant that the 2025 season ended up being a sacrifice of sorts.
It hasn’t been the cleanest of F1 seasons for Alpine this far. The close competition in the midfield has left them last in the constructors’ standings, especially against the likes of Williams, Aston Martin and Visa Cash App RB, with Sauber joining them in the fight.
Due to the numerous number of teams close to each other in the midfield, it has made things tougher for Alpine and in particular Gasly, who is the lone fighter from the team. They started off with Jack Doohan, but replaced him with Franco Colapinto, who has struggled to get to grips with.
Gasly is pleased thus far, even though the performance hasn’t been top notch. “I’m very pleased, but it’s the team’s been able to really provide me with the car I need to feel confident, be comfortable at the limit,” he said to media. “It’s quite good because it’s a tough season. The performance is not quite there, but everyone is really motivated to put our best game and really try to nail every single weekend.
“Sometimes it might be good enough for 14th, 12th. We are not pleased about the end result, but we always try. With that mindset and mentality, it gave us a P6 and a P10 in Spa. We’ve got to keep trying and make the best out of this second part of the year,” summed up Gasly, who feels the direction taken by Alpine is good, even though 2025 has literally become a sacrifice for them.
In the larger scheme of fighting for wins and podiums, this seems like a small sacrifice. “The reality of it is the car has been the same since Barcelona and will remain the same until the end of the year,” said Gasly. “On one side, you’ve got to be objective and realistic on what’s achievable. Steve will arrive in September, and I think his impact and his work will be mainly seen on 2026 and beyond.
“Honestly, Steve’s [Steve Nielson, new team manager] got to focus on next year. We know all the work that we are putting for 2026. We are pleased with what we are doing and the evolution. I’m confident. I believe in the team and the fact that they’ll be able to give me a competitive car next year. The reality of it is this season, this is what we have, and it’s going to be extremely difficult to change the position that we are in. It doesn’t mean we are doing a bad job at the track or back at the factory.
“We just haven’t been able to produce a car, in a season where the midfield is extremely tight, with the decisions we’ve made for ’26. We haven’t been able to provide enough performance to fight for better than that, which is fine because at the end of the day, whether you finish ninth or eighth or tenth in the championship, you’re still fighting for nothing pretty much. But if it gives you a car that can fight for race wins, podiums, top five next season, I’ll take that every day of the week,” summed up Gasly.
Here’s Franco Colapinto on work in summer break
Here’s Pierre Gasly on Francois Provost
