Alpine’s 2026 Formula 1 campaign began in Melbourne with a curious mix of relief and frustration – the team grabbed a valuable point, but left Albert Park with the nagging sense that it should have done far better.
Managing director Steve Nielsen summed up the strange emotional arithmetic after the Australian Grand Prix with a colorful analogy.
“I said to someone earlier that I feel like I’ve lost a fiver and found a pound,” he said after last Sunday’s race.
After finishing rock bottom in last year’s constructors’ standings, the Enstone squad arrived in Australia believing winter progress had put it firmly back in the fight for points.
Pre-season testing in Bahrain had raised optimism that Alpine could compete regularly in the lower end of the top ten.
Reality in qualifying, however, hit harder than expected. Alpine’s best starting position came from Pierre Gasly, who lined up only 14th on the grid.
Gasly’s Charge Saves the Day
Race day told a slightly different story. Gasly launched a gritty recovery drive and clawed his way into 10th place, salvaging a solitary but significant championship point.
Nielsen didn’t hold back in praising the Frenchman’s effort.
“So, we came here from Bahrain with expectations to be racing for lower-order points, but more strongly than it turned out that we were,” he explained.
“We managed to get a point, Pierre drove like a hero, which is great.”
Still, the Alpine chief made it clear the result masked deeper concerns.
“But, some of our competitors have put upgrades on between Bahrain testing and here. We haven’t. We need to do something about that. We have performance coming.
“We need to get it on the car because we’re just not quick enough.”
The Understeer Issue Lurking Beneath
Digging into the weekend, Nielsen admitted Alpine left performance on the table – especially during qualifying.
“I think perhaps we could have done a better job in qualifying with tyre prep and stuff on the outlaps, so there’s definitely stuff there we can learn,” he added.
“High-speed balance is definitely not the best, so we need to fix that. But yeah, there’s definitely stuff we can do better.
“If we were starting this race now, we’d definitely do things differently, particularly in qualifying. But everyone will tell you that.”
At the heart of Alpine’s struggle lies a persistent handling flaw.
“It manifests itself as understeer,” the Briton revealed. “So, we have high-speed understeer. We talked about it before. We saw some of that in Bahrain.
“The nature of this circuit is there’s more high-speed, so that probably comes bigger.”
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Solutions are already in development – but not quite ready.
“So, we do understand it. We do have parts coming hopefully that will fix it,” Nielsen added.
“But they won’t be on the car in China. It’s an injury we are carrying at the moment that I wish we weren’t. But I think we know how to get on top of it.”
For Alpine, Melbourne delivered a point – but also a reminder that the road back to F1’s midfield fight is still under construction.
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