The difficulties encountered in qualifying byAlpine in the Australian Grand Prix they had generated some doubts about the French team during the race, the first in the history of the Enstone company with Mercedes engines. Instead, taking advantage of the right strategies and the withdrawals of other drivers, the inaugural GP of the 2026 season ended with a placing in the points zone for Pierre Gaslythe only one who brought Alpine into the top-10 in just five races last championship.
One point, many complexities
The transalpine driver in fact finished in tenth positionright in front of his Haas compatriot Esteban Ocon at the end of a race that had seen him start from the 14th spot on the grid: “It was a hard-won point, and we can be satisfied with having obtained it – he commented – It was definitely a long afternoon behind the wheel! I got off to a good start, gained a few positions and then had some pretty interesting battles on the track. We suffered some damage due to contactso probably we couldn’t show our full potential. I believe that if favorable circumstances had arisen we could have fought even higher. There are many positives to consider and I’m sure there are many things to learn ahead of next week. The race is certainly different. Today has brought with it many new challenges and there are many tactics and factors that now come into play. Now that we’ve seen a race unfold, there are so many new tricks to understand and practice for next time. I enjoyed it, it was a challenging race throughout and now there’s so much to deal with. Next week we have the Sprint weekend in China, where we will have to get up and running quickly and get into the rhythm quickly. I’m leaving here happy, so congratulations to the whole team.”
A more complex race, however, for Franco Colapinto. 14th at the finish line, however, the Argentine must be recognized for his amazing instinctive reaction at the start which allowed him to narrowly avoid Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls, which remained stationary on the starting grid: “Based on the result alone, we are not where we wanted to be, however there are definitely some positives to take from the race pace and the data we have collected, which we can learn from 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 down the line. 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 trying to avoid Lawson, who was very slow at the start, I almost hit him and managed to see him at the last minute and swerved between him and the pit wall. I think I hit the wall, but luckily we didn’t suffer any serious damage and got through the first lap unscathed. Despite the result, I think that from where we started the weekend we can be satisfied with the sensations and performance of the car, especially in race trim, which is comparable to some of our mid-table rivals. Congratulations also to Pierre for getting a point to start the season.”
