New Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen says the team is still “a few races away” from making a decision on its drivers for 2026, as it looks to decide whether to retain Franco Colapinto for next year.
Colapinto is looking to make his case to stay in the frame at the team, and has outqualified Pierre Gasly – who recently signed a longer term extension to his deal – in three of the last four races.
The team is understood to be focused on its internal options for 2026, including Colapinto’s predecessor Jack Doohan and reserve Paul Aron, should the Argentine fail to stake his claim for a renewal.
Nielsen praised Colapinto for getting on terms with Gasly over recent races, but says that the team needs longer to make a final decision – largely to assess if that improving form continues to manifest.
“I think it’s difficult for any of the new drivers coming in. We’ve seen ebb and flow in lots of them that have come from F2,” Nielsen said. “Franco had a difficult start. I think we’ve seen that equalise and calm down a little bit. He’s now had the measure of Pierre in the last two or three races.
“So he’s on a par with him, which is good. We don’t know where that slope will end, whether it’s going to continue. We hope it does. And then we’ll make our decision on Franco and whoever else is in the frame when we have to. But we’re a few races away from that yet.”
Although Doohan’s chances of a reprisal are considered slim, Nielsen stated that the Australian was “still part of our programme” and would not be drawn “on if or when he will drive again”.
Steve Nielsen, Managing Director at Alpine F1
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
Alpine performance ‘doesn’t reflect Enstone talent’
When dissecting his first month in charge of Alpine’s Enstone operations, Nielsen likened it to returning to his ‘old school’; the Briton had two previous spells with the team across its Benetton and Renault guises.
Nielsen left Toro Rosso to join Formula One Management (FOM) as the sporting director in 2017, and then moved to the FIA in 2023 for an 11-month spell with the governing body. He pointed to many of F1’s contemporary elements, such as the budget cap, as some of the biggest differences since he was last part of a team.
“You go back to an old school and bits of it are really familiar but a bit smaller than you remember. Bits of it are new. It’s been great to go back,” he noted.
“They’ve made me feel very welcome. Some old familiar faces, lots of new faces, which is also good. But whilst I’ve been in the sport for this time, I haven’t been at a team for eight years.
“So there’s a big part of me getting up to speed and picking up on what’s changed inside a racing team in the last eight years – and there’s an awful lot. Things like the budget cap didn’t exist the last time I was part of a team. Now it does.”
Speaking about the team he now has at his disposal, Nielsen added that Alpine’s current position propping up the bottom of the championship order is not indicative of the engineers’ skill.
“It’s a great place. There’s some fine talent there,” he said. “What we put on the track at the moment doesn’t reflect the skills we have there and the facilities we have there, and it’s our job to turn that around.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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