Alpine's Tire Mystery Explained After Gasly Loses Points in Singapore

Alpine still hasn't found the formula to turn its one-lap speed into race results. The French team that achieved an excellent fourth row in the Singapore Grand Prix qualifying saw its chances to score points vanish in the final laps because of a recurring problem: tire degradation. Pierre Gasly, who had run tenth for seven laps from the end, lost ten seconds to Liam Lawson and fourteen to Isack Hadjar, falling out of the points zone.

"On a circuit with many low-speed corners and a lot of traction, we simply ran out of tires after three laps. In qualifying, the tires are cold and don't have time to heat up much over a single lap. In the race, as soon as you get in the car, the feeling is good- one lap, two laps but on the third lap our temperatures skyrocket, and we no longer have traction. We know it's a limitation of the car, but I expected something better," Gasly explained.

The problem is not new, but at Marina Bay it became more evident than ever. The key is in the rims chosen by Alpine for this event: the A526 mounted closed rims, a solution that, in theory, helps to heat the front tires on a circuit where it is difficult to transmit energy to the compounds; however, if temperatures are not controlled, the effect is counterproductive: the pressure rises as the contact surface is reduced and wear skyrockets.

"I think it's quite clear what we have to work on; we know why we have some of these problems related to the rims we are using. The question is that, on a circuit like this, it costs us enormously," the Frenchman admitted. The comparison with Nico Hülkenberg, who kept George Russell at bay in the final phase, is revealing. The Audi driver, with a theoretically inferior car, knew how to better manage his tires and defend his position; Gasly, on the other hand, could not exit the corners without the rear sliding: "Sometimes I was even faster than Nico, but I couldn't get out of the corners well; every time I stepped on the accelerator, I went sideways, and I couldn't recover on the straight," he lamented.

This year, teams have invested heavily in developing the rims, to the point that Pirelli has observed significant differences not only compared to last season, but also among the teams themselves, with Alpine making it a priority to find the right operating window. The team needs to understand why its tires overheat so quickly in the race and how it can mitigate that effect without sacrificing one-lap speed.

Gasly and his teammate, Franco Colapinto, face the final stretch of the season, hoping Alpine finds a solution. The A526's potential is there, as the qualifiers show, but a lack of race-day consistency weighs on its aspirations; if the team solves the mystery of the rims, it could make an important leap in quality in the final races. Meanwhile, the season moves on, and points slip away; the next event in Austin will be a new chance to see whether Alpine has found a way to tame its black beast.