Why Gasly’s long-term renewal suggests encouraging shoots of recovery at Alpine F1

Of the remaining vacancies left to fight over during the final stages of Formula 1’s 2026 silly season, this wasn’t one of them. Pierre Gasly’s seat at Alpine was never in doubt for next year but, even with opportunities to appeal for a drive at the traditional top teams for 2027, he has taken it upon himself to be declared unavailable.

At 29, Gasly is in his prime years. As of 2025, Alpine is not. The Enstone team has slumped to the bottom of the constructors’ standings, and only a Brazil 2024-esque flurry of fortune could realistically peel it away from the arse-end of the points. Solid qualifying results have scarcely translated into finishes above 11th, and it’s only through Gasly’s own magic that the team has managed to convert on four occasions.

But his endorsement of a new deal should not be viewed as an indicator of the Frenchman choosing to fritter away his career at the back end of the field, but rather in choosing to remain patient as Alpine plots its convalescence.

Let’s look at the key set pieces for 2026: Alpine has more wind tunnel time and simulation tools than anyone else in the lead-up to an all-new ruleset. It has Mercedes powertrains, having elected to dispense with its own 2026 project at Viry-Chatillon. It also has Steve Nielsen as managing director, who is in Monza for his first weekend in his new role.

Gasly, of course, has been privy to all of this. He’s been through the initial promise in his first year at the team, the crippling lows at the start of 2024 as the car was considerably overweight at the start of the campaign, and the recovery at the end thanks to the course of updates plotted by David Sanchez’s technical team – following the reforms to implement a McLaren-like arrangement of staff.

While 2025 has been disappointing, the A525 perhaps not being enough of an evolution of last year’s A524, the upshot is that the team gets more testing resources to pin on 2026.

The decision not to update this year’s car beyond the first few rounds has allowed that to snowball slightly. In comparison to Williams, which has presented a candid admission of its focus on 2026, Alpine has followed a similar route but much more quietly. Perhaps the continual revolving of its managerial office door has superseded that somewhat, but it’s fair to say that the main resources at the Renault-owned outfit have been sucked up by the 2026 project for some time.

What’s telling is that Gasly has not opted to ‘suck it and see’ for next year. Many suspect that Max Verstappen is taking that approach before committing his future to Red Bull beyond next year; the Dutchman flirted with Mercedes, Christian Horner’s departure prompted the end to talks with the Silver Arrows by complete coincidence (take that statement with a degree of sarcasm, if you please), but there’s nothing stopping the four-time champion from looking around again should Red Bull’s 2026 project fall flat.

Evidently, Gasly is pleased by the progress of the Alpine project, and doesn’t feel like he needs to adopt a try-before-you-buy approach. Indications are that the Mercedes powertrain is on course to be competitive from the get-go next year, which has been a key part of Renault’s decision to bin off its own development.

It’s said that the Renault 2026 powertrain was in a good place before it was axed, albeit with a long gestation period still to go. Either way, there was always more certainty about taking a Mercedes deal from a performance point of view, and in the cost-savings for Renault involved by no longer needing to build its own engines.

Gasly’s long-term renewal with Alpine has been an endorsement of the progress on its 2026 car

Photo by: Luca Rossini / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Securing Gasly’s signing on a long-term deal is also a big win for Nielsen. The ex-Toro Rosso sporting director has come to the team via roles at F1 and the FIA, and was also a key player at Benetton and Renault under Flavio Briatore. That Nielsen started last week, and that Gasly has presumably chosen to put pen to paper following his arrival, suggests that he has made a good impression at the team.

Alpine needs that. Having completed its speedrun through about five or six iterations of management – although Oliver Oakes’ departure was unrelated to Alpine’s itchy trigger finger – Nielsen is aiming to bring stability to the team.

Sanchez will also properly get his fingerprints on the development of the 2026 car, and will have influence how the team grows into the new rules. It’s been a fraught time of to-ing and fro-ing at Alpine, but Briatore is very much hoping that he’s put together a team that can match his earlier successes in charge of the team.

And if next year’s car is capable of victories, you can bet Gasly will challenge for them. It’ll be a tough ask to complete the last-to-first turnaround immediately, but the Norman evidently believes that Alpine can remain in the ascendancy for the next few years.

If he’s able to bring himself into winning contention again, it would not only be an incredibly popular scenario, but his Alpine renewal will look like a stroke of genius.