By Will Heys
In 2021, Alpine didn’t talk like a midfield team finding its feet.
They shot out of the block finishing 5th in the WDC and picked up their first win in Hungary thanks to a wild and wet start.
Then-CEO Laurent Rossi laid out a vision in October that year built on a “100-race project” that would steadily lift the Enstone-based outfit from respectability to regular contention.
98 Grands Prix since that promise, we start Formula 1’s 2026 regulation reset, and that clock has quietly come close to expiring.
In that time they’ve restructured leadership cycling through senior figures, abandoned their works engine programme and decided to focus solely on Formula 1.
The Enstone team should arrive at F1’s new era more focused than they’ve been in years.
With that focus comes a simple truth: if they are not on the way up now, then the last four years and the plan that justified them, will have been for nothing.
They have managed a career best finish of 4th achieved in 2022.
Since then, two 6th place finishes followed by their unfortunate last place finish last year show an overall trend of regression.
This trend only helped their decision to cease production of the Renault hybrid power units.
Instead, Alpine will now use Mercedes Power Units for 2026 which have stood as the leading PU provider since 2014.
The switch removes a long-standing internal distraction and forces Alpine to define themselves by chassis performance.
Renault decided to repurpose its Viry-Chatillon factory to focus on ‘Hypertech Alpine’, based around intricate electrical components for the new Formula 1 era and Hypercar technology.
However, it was recently announced that the Alpine Hypercar programme in the World Endurance Championship is to be axed at the end of 2026.
They no longer want to be everywhere but instead want Formula 1 to work.
The French team have not been profitable and this was the year they were hoping to be lucrative. Money talks in Formula 1, and Franco Colapinto’s promotion was not driven by sentiment alone with reports suggest he brings sponsorship backing in the region of $30 million, a significant figure for a team tightening its financial focus.
Colapinto showed genuine pace during his half-season stint at Williams in 2024, albeit alongside some costly crashes, but the commercial upside he offers comfortably outweighs that of Jack Doohan, whose backing was estimated at closer to €10 million. It is yet another example of Alpine prioritising pragmatism over patience.
Whether this proves to be smart modern F1 thinking or short-termism disguised as strategy will depend entirely on what comes next.
Pierre Gasly is a proven race winner and a reliable reference point in the midfield.
He had potential but was swallowed up and spit straight back out by the Red Bull Junior Academy.
This will be his 4th season with the team and hopefully the experience he has will help him in that team leader role.
Colapinto, meanwhile, represents potential transformation if Alpine can finally provide a stable environment.
A young talent who scored his first points in only his second ever Grand Prix.
On paper, it is a solid pairing built for progress. But don’t be surprised if Paul Aron jumps into that seat sooner than you think.
It is also a pairing that demands results quickly, because neither longevity nor sentiment is driving Alpine’s decisions anymore.
We saw how they dropped Jack Doohan after only six races.
If Alpine can finally deliver a stable and competitive car, points finishes should be the minimum expectation.
Now, the picture is simpler than it has been in years.
A regulation reset gives every team a chance to redefine itself and Alpine need to be on the way up not someday, but now.
They wrote off the 2025 season early on to focus on these regulations.
The newly born Audi team join with the ambitious goal of fighting for the World Championship by 2030.
Even teams with fewer resources know exactly who they are and where they’re going and after 5 seasons and one win, Alpine finally have no choice but to prove that they do too.
If they don’t, then this era will be remembered as the moment Alpine ran out of excuses. And if they cannot generate momentum now, with fewer distractions and fewer excuses than ever before, then the question will no longer be where Alpine are going, but whether they ever truly knew in the first place.
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