Alpine performance is not good enough despite scraping a point at Spa
It was a result that felt like survival rather than a celebration. Franco Colapinto managed to drag his Alpine into 10th place at Spa-Francorchamps, a vital effort that prevented the team from losing further ground to Racing Bulls in their scrap for midfield supremacy. Yet, even as he walked away with a point, the air in the paddock was thick with frustration. Alpine sits tied with Racing Bulls on 61 points, a massive drop-off for a team that saw Pierre Gasly secure a podium in Monaco earlier this year.
Colapinto was under no illusions about the machine underneath him. "We need to improve the car a lot, we are too slow at the moment," he admitted. The reality is that while he maximized his weekend with a strong start and a hard-fought race—crossing the line 0.9s ahead of his team mate and 1.4s clear of Liam Lawson—the car is hemorrhaging time in the corners. Beating a Racing Bulls car to the line provided some respite, but the inherent speed is simply not there compared to the Audis, Gabriel Bortoleto, or Arvid Lindblad.
For Pierre Gasly, the weekend was a disaster. After a run of scoring in the first seven Grands Prix, he has managed only a single point in the last three rounds. His Spa weekend began with a crash on Friday and nearly ended before the race began when he lost power during the formation lap. A poor pit stop compounded the misery, leaving him stuck in a tactical duel with Lawson that ultimately forced him to finish outside the points.
Gasly did not mince his words when summarizing the state of the team, bluntly stating that "it is not good enough." There is no word from Alpine on when a significant upgrade package might finally arrive to save their season. For now, the team is left clinging to the hope that the tighter, slower corners of the Hungaroring might play better to the strengths of their current package. With the Hungarian Grand Prix starting this Friday, they don't have long to wait to see if that optimism is justified.
