Alpine endured a difficult Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps, with Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto qualifying 12th and 13th for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix. Grid penalties for other cars will promote the pair to 10th and 11th on the grid. The team admits it is short on outright pace and is aiming to fight the Audis and Racing Bulls in Sunday’s race.
Alpine heads into the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix chasing points from the back of the top ten, after a qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps that left both cars outside Q3. Pierre Gasly set the 12th-fastest time, with team-mate Franco Colapinto 13th, though grid penalties for rivals will move the pair up to 10th and 11th for the race.
A difficult Saturday at Spa
Gasly recovered from a Friday incident to complete the weekend’s running, after the mechanics repaired his car overnight. In final practice he lapped in 1min 47.949secs for 15th, with Colapinto just ahead in 13th on a 1min 47.904secs. In qualifying Gasly improved to a 1min 46.331secs, narrowly ahead of Colapinto’s 1min 46.392secs, but neither was enough to reach the top-ten shootout.
Gasly acknowledged the result reflected the team’s current position. “In terms of our Qualifying, I am not happy with P12 as Q3 is always our target,” he said. “However, that is just the reality of where we are at the moment, and we have work to do if we want to be in the top ten tomorrow.”
Fighting Audi and Racing Bulls
Both drivers identified the same rivals as their benchmark. Gasly said the team’s target was “more likely to be the Audis rather than the Racing Bulls who have a lot of pace again,” while Colapinto pointed to a small step forward since the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
“It feels like we have made a small step on performance since Silverstone, which is positive, and hopefully we can carry that forwards into tomorrow when it counts,” Colapinto said. “Racing Bulls again look strong and Audi are just ahead of us, so that’s where our fight is.”
What the team says
Team representative Steve Nielsen said the qualifying position was an accurate picture of the car’s pace, praising midfield rivals for recent gains.
“Racing Bulls and Audi have done a much better job recently to add more performance to the car and find those extra tenths of a second which prove the difference between Q2 and Q3.”
Nielsen added that Alpine would look to pressure the cars ahead at the start before settling into its own race, with the aim of recovering positions and scoring with both cars. He also thanked the mechanics for repairing Gasly’s car in time for the day’s sessions.
What it means
Spa’s long straights and heavy braking zones offer some of the best overtaking opportunities on the calendar, which Alpine hopes to exploit despite its qualifying pace. With both cars starting inside the top eleven thanks to others’ penalties, a strong getaway could put the team in contention for points — the stated objective for both drivers.
The 2026 Belgian Grand Prix takes place on Sunday.
Source: 04mn2.mjt.lu