The difficulties encountered in qualifying by Alpine in the Australian Grand Prix had generated some perplexity about the French team on the occasion of the race, the first in the history of the Enstone-based house with Mercedes engines. Instead, by exploiting the right strategies and the retirements of other drivers, the inaugural GP of the 2026 season ended with a points finish for Pierre Gasly, the only one who last championship brought Alpine into the top-10 in just five races.
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One point, many complexities
The transalpine driver in fact finished in tenth position, just ahead of his Haas compatriot Esteban Ocon at the end of a race that had seen him start from the 14th grid slot: “It was a hard-earned point, and we can be satisfied with having obtained it – he commented – it was certainly a long afternoon behind the wheel! I started well, gained a few positions and then gave life to some rather interesting battles on track. We suffered some damage due to a contact, so probably we could not show all our potential. I believe that if favorable circumstances had presented themselves we could have fought even higher. There are many positive aspects to consider and I am sure there are many things to learn ahead of next week. The race is certainly different. Today brought with it many new challenges and there are many tactics and factors that now come into play. Now that we have seen a race unfold, there are so many new tricks to understand and put into practice for next time. I enjoyed it, it was a demanding race for the entire duration and now there is so much to deal with. Next week we have the Sprint weekend in China, where we will have to be operational immediately and pick up the pace quickly. I leave here happy, so congratulations to the whole team.”
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A more complex race, however, for Franco Colapinto. 14th at the finish, the Argentine must however be credited with the amazing instinctive reaction at the start that allowed him to narrowly dodge Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls, which remained stationary on the starting grid: “Based exclusively on the result, we are not where we wanted to be, however there are certainly some positive aspects to be drawn from the race pace and the data we collected, from which we can learn for future races. From where we started on the grid, it was always going to be difficult and in the end the penalty for a start infringement cost us the chance to fight further forward. We win and lose as a team and we are in the same boat. I was actually lucky to finish the race, because it almost ended at the start with a moment of fear in an attempt to avoid Lawson, who was very slow at the start. I almost rear-ended him and managed to see him at the last minute. I steered right and squeezed between him and the pit wall. I think I touched the wall, but luckily we didn’t suffer serious damage and we got through the first lap unscathed. Despite the result, I think from where we started in the weekend we can be satisfied with the feelings and performance of the car, especially in race trim, which is comparable to some of our midfield rivals. Congratulations also to Pierre for getting a point to start the season.”
