BWT Alpine Formula One Team leaves Saturday at the Dutch Grand Prix with one point and a lost opportunity. Pierre Gasly held eighth place in the Sprint Race to add to the team’s tally, but both Alpine drivers were then shut out of the top ten in qualifying, lining up 11th and 14th for Sunday’s race. Managing Director Steve Nielsen described the day as one of mixed emotions.
Zandvoort’s Saturday programme handed BWT Alpine Formula One Team a small reward and a sizeable frustration in the space of a few hours. The Sprint Race went to plan for Pierre Gasly, while qualifying for the Grand Prix left the French squad outside the top ten with both cars.
A quiet Sprint and a point for Gasly
Gasly started the Sprint from eighth on new medium tyres and finished exactly where he began, taking the final point on offer. His best lap of the race was a 1min 16.895secs. Franco Colapinto lined up 13th on used mediums and came home 12th, setting a quicker fastest lap than his team-mate at 1min 16.718secs.
“It was great to score a point in the Sprint Race as it’s been a little while since we have been in the points. We were able to translate our pace from yesterday into the Sprint today, which was positive. Track position certainly helped and I just tried to manage everything and bring home the P8 finish.”
Qualifying slips away by fractions
The afternoon session did not follow the same script. Gasly qualified 11th with a 1min 12.616secs, missing Q3 by what the team describes as less than a tenth of a second. Colapinto took 14th on a 1min 12.800secs, a lap set without being able to complete his final attempt because of traffic.
“It was a messy session for me and we just seemed to struggle a little more compared to yesterday on low fuel,” Gasly said. “We won’t be too harsh on ourselves as the pace was there for Q3, less than a tenth of a second, so we will review and see what we can do better next time.”
Colapinto was more content with his own afternoon. “I was able to maximise the car in Qualifying today after what was a very good job by the whole team,” the Argentine said, adding that the car “felt better and more consistent” after small set-up changes made following the morning Sprint. He noted that Alpine was close to the Racing Bulls and Audi cars.
Learning a new package
Both drivers pointed to an upgrade that is still bedding in. Gasly said it remains “early days with the new part” and that the team is still working out how to place the whole package in an optimal set-up window. Colapinto, who has yet to receive the update on his side of the garage, said he is still waiting for it.
Nielsen was blunt about where the lap time went. “Pierre’s session was a little more scrappy than we wanted and there was certainly lap time left on the table throughout,” he said, citing a difficult first sector and a snap at Turn 10 in Q2 that cost his driver a place in Q3. “It was a story of fine margins – as always in the midfield – and the car certainly had the pace to be in the top ten today.”
What it means for Sunday
Starting 11th at Zandvoort is not the disaster it might be elsewhere, but the circuit’s narrow, banked layout makes overtaking hard work, and the midfield fight is tight enough that a single position on the grid can decide the points. Gasly said the team’s focus is on the cars ahead; Colapinto suggested rain would be welcome, given how tricky he expects a dry race to be. Nielsen set the target plainly: to be in the points.
Alpine runs the A526 this season with Gasly and Colapinto, operating from its long-standing Enstone base in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. The Dutch Grand Prix is round of a 24-race calendar.
Facts: BWT Alpine at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix
- Sprint Race, Gasly: started P8 (new mediums), finished P8, fastest lap 1min 16.895secs
- Sprint Race, Colapinto: started P13 (used mediums), finished P12, fastest lap 1min 16.718secs
- Qualifying, Gasly: P11, 1min 12.616secs
- Qualifying, Colapinto: P14, 1min 12.800secs
- Car: Alpine A526
The Dutch Grand Prix takes place on Sunday at Zandvoort.
Source: media.alpinecars.com