Pierre Gasly believes Alpine’s upcoming Dutch Grand Prix upgrade package will be “critical” to the team’s hopes of staying in the Formula 1 midfield fight, as several direct rivals continue to make significant gains in performance.
The Enstone squad entered the 2026 season as the benchmark midfield outfit, sitting fifth in the constructors’ standings after six rounds and just 19 points away from Red Bull in fourth following Gasly’s controversial podium finish in Monaco.
However, Alpine’s early-season momentum has faded as rivals have accelerated their development programmes. With no major upgrades introduced since Miami, the team has watched Racing Bulls move ahead while Audi continues to close the gap with a consistent run of points finishes.
The warning signs became even clearer at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Aston Martin’s heavily revised AMR26 showed a significant improvement by reaching Q2 for the first time this season.
For Alpine, the next race in Zandvoort represents a crucial opportunity to reverse the trend, with managing director Steve Nielsen already confirming that the team will introduce “some pretty big new aero parts”.
Alpine facing a development battle
Gasly believes the importance of the upgrade cannot be overstated, particularly with rivals making significant progress while Alpine has remained relatively static.
“Standard of Formula 1, I think if you bring upgrades you expect it to definitely get better,” said Gasly, after failing to score in Hungary.
“On my side, I'm not doubting that it's going to do what the team expect, but as you say it's important because Aston Martin improved by two seconds this weekend, they have another engine coming [in Zandvoort], Racing Bulls improved by seconds in the start of the year, Audi as well.
“We just didn't do much steps, so I think it's critical for us if we want to keep the hope for that fifth place in the championship.”
The situation is particularly significant in 2026, with teams still learning how to maximise performance from Formula 1’s new technical regulations. Development efficiency has become a defining factor, and Alpine knows better than most the consequences of falling behind in the upgrade race.
During the previous ground-effect era, the team began 2022 as the fourth-fastest constructor before slipping backwards over subsequent seasons, eventually becoming one of the slowest teams on the grid by 2025 as its development path failed to deliver.
Gasly demands a response
Alpine’s recent struggles have left Gasly frustrated, with the Frenchman scoring in just one of the last four races. The team’s lack of progress has become increasingly visible in qualifying, where it has regularly found itself behind direct midfield rivals.
Gasly admitted the current situation is not where he expects Alpine to be.
“It's not the reality I want to see but there's no hiding from it,” added the Frenchman. “It's been a couple of races where it's kind of the same story in quali: [position] 12, 13 behind Racing Bulls and Audi.
Read also: FIA blames F1 manufacturers for failure to fix 2026 regs sooner“In the race it's like somehow you think that maybe we're going to be there and then I can see them, but it's just pure pace and we are not there.
“It also doesn't feel good in the car. The car is not reacting at all the way I'd like, it doesn't allow me to drive the way I need and there's quite a few things to fix.”
With the midfield battle tightening and rivals finding performance gains at a rapid pace, Alpine’s Zandvoort upgrade could represent a defining moment in its season.
For Gasly, the message is clear: the team cannot afford another step backwards if it wants to keep its championship ambitions alive.
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