BWT Alpine Formula One Team left the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix without points. Pierre Gasly started seventh and finished 11th, and Franco Colapinto retired with a suspected driveline issue. The result means the team scored nothing across the whole triple header.
A slow start undoes Gasly
Pierre Gasly started seventh on new medium tyres. His Sunday went wrong almost straight away. The Frenchman said he lacked power off the line, which let Liam Lawson and Nico Hülkenberg pass him, and he could not get back ahead of either.
Gasly made his only pit stop on lap 29 for new softs. He then dropped back and finished 11th, one place outside the points. His fastest lap was 1min 37.390secs.
He blamed a weakness the team has seen before. “On circuits which stress the rear axle, like this one, it is clear we struggle with traction and it is becoming a real limitation for us,” Gasly said. “We just ran out of rear tyres and could not stay with our competitors and that meant we fell back and finished outside of the points.”
Gasly pointed out that his qualifying pace has not turned into results. Over the triple header he reached Q3 three times, or four counting this weekend’s Sprint Qualifying, and the team scored no points from any of them. He still said he was confident going into the next run of races, provided the team can sort out its race-distance problems.
Driveline problem ends Colapinto’s race
Franco Colapinto started 15th, also on new mediums, and did not finish. His fastest lap was 1min 39.265secs. The Argentine said he made a good start and gained a couple of places. After that he was stuck behind the car ahead on a circuit where overtaking is difficult. He then felt a problem, which the team suspects was in the driveline, and had to stop the car.
“It was frustrating not to finish the race again today after a suspected driveline issue on the car. But that’s racing sometimes, and reliability has been one of our strong points this year, and I know the team will assess what caused it and look to put fixes in place.” — Franco Colapinto
Colapinto admitted the team has lost ground in the championship. He said he is looking forward to the next triple header in the Americas, the part of the season he enjoys most because it is closer to home.
Reliability back under the spotlight
Managing Director Steve Nielsen said neither the Singapore race nor the triple header as a whole went as the team had hoped. Its championship position is now harder as a result. He said the team’s optimism comes from its pace and from a car he described as “generally working well at most tracks”. More upgrade parts are in the pipeline for both drivers.
Nielsen also said the team must understand why its cars stopped on track twice over the weekend. “Reliability has been a strong point of ours this season and it is important we get back on top of it to ensure we have two cars in the fight and competing for points,” he said.
What it means
Alpine’s two problems need different fixes. Gasly’s single-lap pace keeps putting him near the front of the grid, but the A526 struggles with rear-tyre wear and traction over a full race, and that has cost him points. The weekend’s two mechanical stoppages also add a reliability question to a season the team says has so far been dependable. Closing the gap to its rivals in the remaining races will depend on fixing both.
The team now moves on to its next triple header, which takes place in the Americas.
Source: media.alpinecars.com