Alpine claims to have identified the source of Pierre Gasly’s difficulties in Miami, after a weekend where Franco Colapinto clearly gained the upper hand over the Frenchman.
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The contrast had surprised the F1 paddock. Dominating against Franco Colapinto since the start of the season, Pierre Gasly found himself struggling throughout the Miami weekend, unable to find the right balance behind the wheel of his Alpine.
A few days later, Alpine claims to have finally understood what happened.
Mystery in Florida
Steve Nielsen, general manager of the Enstone team, confirmed before the Canadian Grand Prix that thorough investigations had been conducted on Gasly’s garage side. And according to him, the engineers now have some concrete initial elements.
“We have dug into Pierre’s side these past weeks to understand why, compared to the performances he had shown since the start of the season, he was not comfortable in the car during this weekend,” explains Nielsen.
“We have some ideas and elements that seem to explain what happened. We now hope that both cars will again be able to fight for points in Canada.”
A problem focused on traction
Even though Alpine remains discreet about the exact nature of the identified problem, several clues appeared in Miami.
During the Florida weekend, Gasly notably mentioned traction difficulties at low speed, particularly in the slow corners of the street circuit. The Frenchman complained of irregular accelerations on corner exit, despite telemetry data that seemed to show a reduction in wheelspin compared to the first sessions.
The behavior of his Alpine A526 clearly did not inspire confidence, despite many upgrades including a new rear wing.
Meanwhile, Colapinto fully enjoyed the car. The Argentine had a reference weekend with an eighth place in the sprint qualifying, then another eighth place on the Grand Prix grid before finally being classified seventh after the penalty given to Charles Leclerc.
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Gasly, meanwhile, saw his race end abruptly after a spectacular clash with Liam Lawson.
Gasly confirms “answers” found
The Frenchman also acknowledges that significant analysis work has been done since Miami. And he believes Alpine arrives in Montreal with serious leads to correct the situation.
“I was not completely comfortable in the car in Miami, so we took time to understand why,” Gasly confides.
“I think we have some answers, some directions to follow for Canada. The goal is to continue this collective momentum and score as many points as possible during the sprint and the Grand Prix.”
Alpine wants to confirm its comeback
Beyond the internal duel between Gasly and Colapinto, Alpine is mainly looking to confirm its progress (explained here) after an encouraging start to the season.
The French team currently occupies fifth place in the constructors’ championship after only four rounds, with already 23 points scored — more than its entire haul during the 2025 season.
Nielsen also praised Colapinto’s performance while calling on the young driver to confirm.
“It was very positive to see Franco so comfortable during the last race. We now want to see him reproduce this level of performance regularly every weekend.”
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