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

Pierre Gasly stated that Alpine's forthcoming upgrades for the Dutch Grand Prix are "critical" for the team to keep pace in the Formula 1 midfield after being outdeveloped by rivals. At the start of the 2026 season, Alpine ranked as the leading midfield team, holding fifth place in the standings after six races, including a controversial podium finish for Gasly in Monaco, where they were only 19 points behind fourth-placed Red Bull.

However, since then, Alpine has dropped behind Racing Bulls by five points and has yet to upgrade their car since the fourth round in Miami. Meanwhile, competitors like Audi have made significant gains in the last three races, and Aston Martin's extensive upgrades allowed them to reach Q2 for the first time this season during the recent race in Hungary.

Alpine's upcoming updates, scheduled for the Zandvoort race from August 21 to 23, are anticipated to include "some pretty big new aero parts," as announced by managing director Steve Nielsen. Gasly emphasized the importance of this development, noting that in Formula 1, upgrades are expected to enhance performance significantly.

"From my side, I'm not doubting that it's going to do what the team expects, but as you say, it's important because Aston Martin improved by two seconds [in Hungary], they have another engine coming to Zandvoort, Racing Bulls have improved significantly since the start of the year, and so has Audi," Gasly explained.

He remarked on Alpine's challenges in recent races, having finished behind Racing Bulls and Audi. "It's critical for us if we want to keep the hope for that fifth place in the championship. The A526 is in desperate need of injected pace. It's not the reality I want to see, but there's no hiding from it," Gasly admitted.

Gasly noted, "The car does not react how I’d like. It doesn’t allow me to drive the way I need, and there are a lot of things to fix." He recognized that Alpine must avoid repeating past mistakes from previous seasons as they once fell from a strong starting position to trailing at the back. With Gasly missing points in three out of the last four races, the urgency for improvement was clear.