Pierre Gasly converted Saturday’s surprise pole position at Monza into a seventh place in Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, leading the opening lap before the faster cars came past. Franco Colapinto added a ninth place after running as high as fourth at the restart, giving BWT Alpine Formula One Team a double points finish. The team says the result has narrowed its gap to Racing Bulls in the constructors’ standings.

BWT Alpine Formula One Team left Monza with points from both cars after Pierre Gasly finished seventh and Franco Colapinto ninth in the 2026 Italian Grand Prix. Gasly started from pole position, the high point of a weekend that the team describes as one of its strongest of the season so far.

How the race unfolded

Both Alpines started on new medium tyres and both switched to new hards on lap three, taking advantage of a red flag early in the race. Gasly led a lap from pole before being reeled in by quicker machinery, eventually crossing the line seventh with a fastest lap of 1min 24.927secs.

Colapinto lined up seventh, also on new mediums, and had moved up to fourth by the restart. A moment at Turn 6 while chasing Max Verstappen sent him into the gravel, and he recovered to ninth with a fastest lap of 1min 24.933secs — just six thousandths of a second slower than his team-mate.

Gasly: best of the rest

“It has been an incredible weekend. To be honest, we can all be very pleased with what we have achieved and finishing P7 today, best of the rest, top of the midfield is a really good achievement,” Gasly said. “Of course, we wanted more but we also have to be realistic and today’s result is probably the best we could have achieved with what we have right now.”

The Frenchman added that he had “two good starts and led a lap”, before spending the race in company with Lando Norris and finishing three seconds behind Lewis Hamilton. “We’ll debrief as a team, take the points, which are so valuable to our Championship battle, and turn our focus to a new track in Madrid next weekend,” he said.

Colapinto frustrated despite the points

Colapinto was harder on himself. “I’m frustrated with myself, as it could have been much better and for that I’m sorry to the team,” he said, describing a “big snap” into Turn 6 that put him into the gravel. He believes the car picked up floor damage as a result: “Thankfully we avoided the barrier, but the car handling felt different afterwards.” He said he hoped that with time to reflect he could “look at it as a good recovery”.

What it means for the championship

Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore called the weekend a positive one and said recent upgrades have made the A526 more competitive. “We have narrowed the gap to Racing Bulls in the Championship and the performance we have brought to the car in recent races has put us in a more competitive position to fight on track,” he said, adding that the result was “a fair reflection of our pace over a Grand Prix distance”.

For a team that spent much of the season at the back of the field, a pole position and a double points score at one of the calendar’s fastest circuits is a marker of progress rather than a one-off. The Enstone-based squad, running the A526 under Briatore and Managing Director Steve Nielsen, now heads to a brand-new venue in Madrid.

Facts: Alpine at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix

  • Pierre Gasly: started P1 on new mediums, finished P7
  • Franco Colapinto: started P7 on new mediums, finished P9
  • Both cars changed to new hards on lap 3 under red flag conditions
  • Gasly fastest lap: 1min 24.927secs
  • Colapinto fastest lap: 1min 24.933secs

The championship continues next weekend at a new circuit in Madrid.

Source: media.alpinecars.com