After a bit of a slump season for the team in 2025, Alpine is hoping to turn it around in the new era of opportunity that is impacting Formula One in 2026. The team’s car and season launch conveys just that.

Possibly most notably about the launch was the unique selection of venue, a MSC cruise ship. As Alpine is entering their second year of their partnership with MSC the venue to host the season launch was a perfect no-brainer. 

This is the first time Formula One has ever had a car launch on a cruise ship, marking a historic feat. Partner leadership Pierfrancesco Vago noted that both MSC and Alpine have many common interests, most primarily “innovation, technology, and experience”.

The two industries complement each other excellently, highlighted in places such as Monte-Carlo with the historic and luxurious Monaco Grand Prix that passes the multi-million-dollar yachts in Port Hercules as spectators watch from the best view in the bay.

Throughout the launch, team leadership had many positive things to say about the driver pairing and the car with the newest regulations, claiming a new era over Alpine as all cars on track enter the first race with a clean slate. 

The drivers exchanged words that the car has been performing well and smoothly in the shakedown ran by Gasly and in the simulator.

Pierre Gasly has gotten to drive the car at Silverstone in the first and most recent shakedown for the team and Franco Colapinto will be taking his turn shortly in Barcelona during the Formula One team wide shakedown.

This is the first time both drivers have gotten to help build a car from the bottom level and Flavio Briatore, the BWT Alpine Formula One Team Principal, had made a comment during the launch that he has never been more confident in the car as he is this year.

Generally speaking, the team stuck with a very similar design to their 2025 challenger despite physical changes to the car with the new regulations.

Alpine did add new sponsors this year and those logos have been added to the car as well as some other logos being moved from the front wing to the chassis, making the body of the car slightly more busy.

This year is to see the shift in engine providers from Renault to Mercedes, which is a major historic mark for the team as they directly descended from the Renault F1 Team.

The A526 challenger will be racing with a Mercedes M17 E Performance 1.6 V6 engine, becoming the fourth team on the grid to use a Mercedes engine.

You can read more about the other teams on the grid launches on Formula One Roundtable such as Haas, Audi, and RedBull/VCARB’s joint launch.