Alpine finds clues to Gasly's Miami struggle

Alpine says it has found “some ideas and evidence” to explain Pierre Gasly’s lack of comfort in Miami, as the team arrives at the Canadian Grand Prix aiming to turn Franco Colapinto’s breakthrough weekend into a sustained double-points threat.

Managing director Steve Nielsen said Alpine had “done some digging on Pierre’s side” after a weekend in which Gasly was off his team-mate’s pace throughout. Colapinto qualified eighth for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, then finished seventh on Sunday for his best Formula 1 result, while Gasly was 10th in both qualifying sessions, took one point from the Sprint, and then retired from the Grand Prix after a collision with Liam Lawson flipped his car upside down.

Nielsen said the team investigated why Gasly “wasn't too happy in the car across the weekend,” and added that Alpine now has “some ideas and evidence” about what happened. The target, he said, is for “both cars” to be “up there and scoring points again in Canada” as Alpine tries to build momentum through a busy stretch of the season.

Gasly gave the same picture of Miami from the cockpit side. Pierre Gasly, Alpine driver, said: “I was not totally comfortable in the car in Miami, so we've put some time in to try and understand why.” He added that the team has “some answers, some directions to take in Canada,” with the aim “to keep the momentum going as a team and deliver as many points as possible from the Sprint and the Grand Prix.”

That matters because Miami strengthened Alpine’s sense that its early-2026 progress is real. Nielsen said the team left that weekend “feeling fairly content,” and the results pushed Alpine to 23 constructors’ points after four rounds, already beyond its entire 2025 total of 22 from a season in which it finished last in the championship.

Montreal now becomes a test of whether Alpine can turn a strong single weekend into repeatable form. It is the team’s third Sprint event of the season, and Nielsen said the next step is clear: Colapinto must reproduce the comfort and performance he showed in Miami on a regular basis, while Gasly needs to get back to the level he displayed in the opening rounds so Alpine can keep both cars in the points fight.