Why Alpine Went From Midfield Revelation to F1's Biggest Disappointment

Alpine has gone from midfield revelation to a team in free fall. The French team that, at the beginning of the season, was excited with podiums and solid performances, is going through an alarming streak: barely one point in the last six Grands Prix, a statistic that reflects the loss of competitiveness of the A526 and that sets off alarms in Enstone with few races left until the end of the championship.

The contrast with the start of the year is brutal: Pierre Gasly achieved a podium in Monaco, and Franco Colapinto finished sixth in Canada, results that seemed to confirm the team's growth and its ability to fight for the midfield; however, as the calendar advanced, Alpine was losing ground, its rivals evolved while the French team stagnated.

The only joy in the last six events was Gasly's tenth place at the United States Grand Prix, a point that tastes like little.

The question everyone asks in Enstone is what happened to the A526, the car that showed promise in the first races and then stopped being competitive. The team has struggled to find the right setup, lacks technical evolution, and has struggled with tire management, which has weighed it down and left it behind rivals like Racing Bulls, which has taken a significant step forward.

The situation is especially worrying because Alpine had placed great hopes in this season; Flavio Briatore's arrival as executive advisor and the bet on young talents like Colapinto seemed to signal a change of course.

However, the results have not followed; the team needs more than an isolated result to reverse the trend and prevent the close of 2026 from confirming a crisis that has been deepening race after race.

Despite the bleak outlook, not everything is lost; Alpine has two drivers in its ranks who can extract the best from a complicated car. Gasly has shown his experience and speed on more than one occasion, and Colapinto has surprised with his adaptability and aggression on track. If the team finds a solid performance base, both could fight again for points in the final races of the year; the key will be the development of the A526 and the engineers' ability to identify areas for improvement.

The 2026 season is coming to an end, and Alpine faces a decisive stretch that demands an urgent response. The A526 has potential but needs to evolve; the team must find technical answers, improve strategy execution, and restore its drivers' confidence; only then can it close the year with dignity and lay the foundations for a 2027 in which it hopes to be competitive again.

The crisis is real, and time is running out. Alpine needs to wake up before it's too late. It has good drivers and a team that proved in the first half that it could fight the best, but for some reason, today the reality doesn't match what it once was.