Pierre Gasly: Alpine's Dutch GP upgrades "critical" for F1 2026 chances

Pierre Gasly reckons Alpine’s upgrades at the forthcoming Dutch Grand Prix are “critical” for it to maintain pace in the Formula 1 midfield as it has been outdeveloped by rivals.

The French marque started the 2026 campaign as the leading midfield team, sitting fifth in the standings after round six in Monaco where Gasly claimed a contentious podium.

It was also just 19 points off fourth-placed Red Bull at the time, but in the five grands prix since, Alpine has slipped five points behind Racing Bulls with no upgrades since round four in Miami.

Other teams like Audi have also closed in with points in each of the last three races, whereas Hungary last time out saw the heavily-upgraded Aston Martin reach Q2 for the first time in 2026.

So, Alpine is pinning hopes on its updates planned for the next race in Zandvoort on 21-23 August, which managing director Steve Nielsen revealed will feature “some pretty big new aero parts”.

“Standard of Formula 1, I think if you bring upgrades you expect it to definitely get better,” said Gasly, after taking a non-score in Budapest.

“On my side, I’m not doubting that it’s going to do what the team expect, but as you say it’s important because Aston Martin improved by two seconds this weekend, they have another engine coming [in Zandvoort], Racing Bulls improved by seconds in the start of the year, Audi as well.

“We just didn’t do much steps, so I think it’s critical for us if we want to keep the hope for that fifth place in the championship.”

Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

An efficient upgrade timeline is of even more importance this year due to the freshness of the new ruleset and this is something Alpine has previously struggled with.

The ground effect era, for example, it started as the fourth-best team in 2022 before eventually regressing to the back come 2025 as the Enstone-based squad struggled with upgrading the car.

So the team must be careful for history to not repeat itself and with Hungary marking the third time in four races that Gasly has suffered a non-score, the A526 is in desperate need of some injected pace.

“It’s not the reality I want to see but there’s no hiding from it,” added the Frenchman. “It’s been a couple of races where it’s kind of the same story in quali: [position] 12, 13 behind Racing Bulls and Audi.

“In the race it’s like somehow you think that maybe we’re going to be there and then I can see them, but it’s just pure pace and we are not there.

“It also doesn’t feel good in the car. The car is not reacting at all the way I’d like, it doesn’t allow me to drive the way I need and there’s quite a few things to fix.”

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– The Motorsport.com Team