A year after that surprising double podium in Brazil, Alpine is at the bottom of the constructors' standings this season. The team has barely made in-season upgrades. Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto sigh under a car that is slowly sinking further.<\/p>\n
The situation is painful. In the past, the team sometimes finished low in a season, but never so bottom. In fact, Flavio Briatore, executive adviser and de facto final boss, calls the current state of affairs \u2019torture\u2019.<\/p>\n
Alpine decided to stop development of the A525 early this year. They did so to put all their resources on the 2026 car. Next year, the team will switch to Mercedes engines and they want to get off to a flying start with that.<\/p>\n
The idea is simple: bet all or nothing on 2026 and get a head start if possible. It is a risk. Other teams continued to upgrade this year and managed to allocate resources better. As a result, Alpine is now at the back.<\/p>\n
Briatore says Alpine did not have the capacity to do two projects at once. Improvements to the A525, he says, would have yielded spots eight or nine in the constructors' race at most. That is why the team opted to gamble on 2026.<\/p>\n
For Briatore, the problem lies deeper than the choice to pause this year. He points to years of leadership changes and the fact that the team was too often managed from afar. According to him, a Formula 1 team should be led hands-on from Enstone, not remotely.<\/p>\n
A big factor, according to Briatore, is the engine issue. In the hybrid era, Renault has not been able to keep pace with Mercedes, Honda and Ferrari. That lack of investment, he said, stemmed from the early 2010s, when Renault, led by Carlos Ghosn, made choices that did not give enough priority to the F1 engine.<\/p>\n
Briatore stresses that he does not blame the people at Viry-Chatillon. He says the engineers made the best of it with the resources they were given. But without sufficient resources, it is difficult to compete at the top.<\/p>\n
Briatore is hopeful about 2026. With a Mercedes engine, Alpine wants to return to the top six on the grid. That seems more realistic than competing for the championship right away, but it would already change a lot. From a sixth or seventh starting spot, you can smell a podium quicker than from midfield positions.<\/p>\n
He acknowledges that it is a big challenge. But Briatore thrives on this kind of task. He points to previous successes where he surprised skeptics. His approach is clear: invest in the right places and manage the team from Enstone.<\/p>\n
In short: Alpine paid the price this season for a strategic choice and for past mistakes. The switch to Mercedes engines and a focused 2026 programme should bring recovery. Whether that strategy works will be judged next year. Until then, fans and staff will continue to struggle on.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alpine is at a low point A year after that surprising double podium in Brazil, Alpine is at the bottom of the constructors' standings this season. The team has barely made in-season upgrades. Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto sigh under a car that is slowly sinking further. The situation is painful. In the past, the team sometimes finished low in a season, but never so [...]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":157907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2274],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formule-1"],"yoast_head":"\n