BWT Alpine Formula One Team travels to the Hungaroring for Round 11 of the 2026 World Championship, the final race before the summer shutdown. Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto want to end the first half of the season on a high, while reserve driver Paul Aron makes his first Free Practice 1 appearance of the year. It is a return to the circuit where the Alpine name took its maiden Formula One win in 2021.
BWT Alpine Formula One Team arrives at the Hungaroring, just outside Budapest, for the Hungarian Grand Prix — the eleventh round of the FIA Formula One World Championship and the last event before the sport pauses for its traditional summer break. With the season now at its halfway point, the team is looking to carry some momentum into the shutdown.
The venue carries meaning for Alpine. It was here, in a chaotic wet-dry race in 2021, that Esteban Ocon delivered the first grand prix victory under the Alpine banner. Five years on, Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are aiming for a solid result to close out the opening half of the year. Colapinto’s weekend will run slightly longer than most: he stays on afterwards for a Pirelli tyre test.
A very different kind of circuit
After the fast, flowing layouts of Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone, the Hungaroring offers a sharp contrast. The tight, twisting track is often compared to a go-kart circuit, with a near-constant stream of corners and only short straights. Once past the pit straight and the opening sector, the lap snakes through a technical sequence where rhythm and consistency matter on every lap.
Reserve driver Paul Aron steps into Colapinto’s car for Free Practice 1, his first outing with the team this season and one of the mandatory young-driver practice sessions.
Academy form heading in
The Alpine Academy took encouragement from the Belgian Grand Prix. Alex Dunne scored in both the Sprint and Feature races, while Gabriele Mini charged through the field on Sunday to finish fifth and holds second in the Formula 2 standings. Kush Maini returns to the circuit where he claimed his maiden F2 win in 2024.
What the drivers say
Gasly is looking for a lift after a difficult recent run: “After a few days rest following Spa, I am ready to take on the Hungaroring this weekend as we aim to go into the break with some positivity. In recent weeks, it has been a lot more challenging for us with some of our rivals making our life much harder in and around the top ten both in Qualifying and on race day. We know what we have to do to improve but we have to accept it’s not an overnight fix. There are a few things we know we can do better so that will be the focus this weekend; executing some small details and trying to maximise our end result. The Hungaroring brings a very different challenge to that of Spa or Silverstone, the last two races we have had. It’s much more technical, different conditions and it will be interesting to see what it’s like in this current generation of car. I was disappointed not to score in Spa, so I go to Budapest hungry and motivated for a good team result.”
Colapinto arrives off the back of a points finish in Belgium: “I was very happy to score a point on Sunday in Spa after a long race battling with Pierre and Liam [Lawson], which brought a lot of action. We looked to be a bit stronger relative to our opponents in Belgium than previously and will aim to continue that form into Budapest this weekend even though the circuit is a completely different challenge. The track is one I’ve had some success at in my junior career and I’m looking forward to returning and experiencing it in this year’s cars. The energy management will be more normal relative to the last two events with so many corners so hopefully we will be able to have a lot of fun with the lighter cars we have this year. We will be pushing hard all weekend to bring home a good result and score more points before we head into the summer break.”
Aron, meanwhile, is eager for track time in the A526: “I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the A526 for my first Free Practice 1 with the team this season. I have driven the car in our simulator back in Enstone all year and it will be very valuable to get on track and get a feel myself for the real thing. I had very positive performances last season in the three FP1s I did with the team and I’m personally aiming to build on those opportunities and to help in the best way I can for the rest of the weekend.”
What it means
A strong showing in Hungary would let Alpine break for the summer on a more positive note after a testing stretch in the midfield. The Hungarian Grand Prix rounds out the first half of the 24-race 2026 season.
Source: media.alpinecars.com