Ferrari unveiled its 2026 challenger earlier today, and the BWT Alpine Formula 1 Team has quickly followed. The A526 doesn't look vastly different from its predecessor, as the familiar pink and blue colour scheme returns.
Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto will continue as the team's driver line-up, and Alpine is led by Managing Director Steve Nielsen and Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore.
The pressure is on Alpine to bounce back in the 2026 F1 season after the team finished last in the Constructors' Standings in 2025 with a mere 22 points, 48 behind their nearest rival, Kick Sauber (now Audi).
Part of that was the decision to shift focus to the 2026 car sooner than usual, something Alpine hopes will give them the edge as they head to the grid with a power unit from Mercedes instead of Renault. With rumours swirling about Mercedes' dominance in 2026, that may bode well for the Enstone-based team.
"Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for BWT Alpine Formula One Team," Flavio Briatore said at the launch today. "It is with great pleasure to begin our season here in Barcelona with our partner MSC Cruises on board the MSC World Europa as we prepare for what will undoubtedly be a unique season in Formula One history."
"Not least for us with the new technical regulations, which offer a clean sheet of paper and a great opportunity for us to be more competitive than previous campaigns," he continued. "It has been a relentless few months at the Enstone factory in preparation for the season, designing and creating the A526, together with Mercedes-AMG, who will supply the new power unit and gearbox from this season."
Gasly, who enters his fourth year with Alpine, said:
"I must say I’m really excited for this season. It’s a big opportunity for us as a team and it’s a big opportunity for us drivers. It’s going to be very technical and there will be a lot of things to learn, probably to adapt to, but it’s exciting. At the end of the day, we all want to win. The team has done a fantastic job over the winter, preparing as best as they could."
"Obviously last year was quite tough but I think it actually made us a lot closer as a team. We managed to really dig into the work we were doing all together and that put us in a much stronger position. I’m very optimistic with the potential we can display and I hope that for everyone working on this project – supporting us, our partners, all of the team behind us – we will have a car to provide them with the results they deserve."
His teammate, Colapinto, failed to score a single point last year, but noted that, "There are new tricks and new challenges to learn to extract the most from the package and I see that as a truly amazing challenge."
With such sweeping changes being made for the F1 regulation in 2026, it's all to play for when the season begins in Australia this March. Whether Alpine can move up the pack remains to be seen.
Check out the A526 in the Instagram posts below: