While their ‘cousins’ at Mercedes and McLaren revealed their pace in FP2, Alpine struggled to make a mark. The French team, expected to have a solid debut after positive pre-season testing, experienced a Friday at Melbourne that was far from straightforward. Several setbacks disrupted the team’s program, including a reliability issue for Pierre Gasly during FP2. The session also featured a tense moment involving Franco Colapinto, who, due to a technical problem, narrowly avoided being rear-ended by Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
Gasly: “A more complicated Friday than we expected”
Across Friday’s two practice sessions, Alpine never rose above sixteenth in the timing sheets. While it’s difficult to gauge the team’s true pace, Pierre Gasly described a challenging start to the weekend. “It was a very tricky first Friday of the season,” he commented. “We knew it would be demanding in some areas, as there’s a lot to learn and understand about the new cars, but today was probably more complicated than we expected. We had to stop early in FP2 as a precaution, which limited our session program.”
Gasly remained optimistic about the weekend ahead: “We have some work to do to keep the car in a more consistent position. It wasn’t a clean day, but I’m confident that after adjusting a few things, we’ll be in a much stronger position.”
A similar message came from Franco Colapinto, who said at the end of the day: “We know the key areas where we need to improve, and I’m confident we can do it before tomorrow.” In FP2, the Argentine set the eighteenth-fastest time, nearly half a second behind his teammate Gasly, who was sixteenth. “You have to expect challenges at a unique circuit like Albert Park, especially with a completely new car. We completed a good number of laps, which gives us a lot to analyze and improve overnight.”
Colapinto also experienced a minor issue at the end of the session: “I even had a small problem with my eye due to some dry ice debris at the end of FP2, but fortunately, it wasn’t serious.”
Tense moment between Franco Colapinto and Lewis Hamilton, but no penalty: FIA explanation
While Alpine wasn’t in the spotlight for its pace, it drew attention due to a risky incident early in FP2. Colapinto’s car suddenly slowed on the main straight, nearly causing a dangerous rear-end collision with Hamilton’s Ferrari, which was approaching at high speed. The FIA investigated but ultimately decided not to penalize the Argentine driver.
“Colapinto explained that the car went into false neutral while approaching the final corner and lost steering at the start of the main straight,” the FIA statement read. “While the team gave instructions over the radio to try to resolve the issue, the driver slowly moved the car to the left side of the straight, as instructed that if he could not fix the problem, he should stop the car. As Colapinto approached the control line, Hamilton had a clear view from a distance. Hamilton acted abruptly to avoid a collision, but Colapinto stated he had been monitoring his mirrors and was aware Hamilton was approaching. Colapinto stayed to the left because the Race Director Notes (Emergency Exit Map) indicate the exit point on the main straight is on the left side of the track. He also mentioned that if he had attempted to leave the racing line without power, it could have created an even more dangerous situation.”
In short, the stewards deemed the incident not to be a rule violation or punishable, as the cause was mechanical rather than deliberate driver action.
Alpine’s Friday in Melbourne shows the volatility inherent in the 2026 technical regulations. Between Gasly’s precautionary garage stint and Colapinto’s steering failure, the team leaves the paddock with more questions than answers. As the engineers dive into the data to solve these reliability gremlins, the pressure is on to ensure that the promising pace seen in testing isn’t completely overshadowed by the team’s current operational struggles.
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