For an outfit that has spent several recent campaigns hunting for a settled identity, Alpine has landed on one in 2026: best of the rest. The Enstone team holds fifth in the constructors’ table, sitting comfortably ahead of Haas and Racing Bulls, and rolls into the Austrian Grand Prix on a points-scoring streak it is bent on prolonging.
The top-line figures paint a picture of midfield command, yet the juicier plot is playing out within the walls of the garage. A line-up once defined by Pierre Gasly’s clear edge has begun to tilt, with Franco Colapinto flipping the script in a way that reshuffles the balance at Alpine.
Owning the Midfield
Fifth in the constructors’ standings is exactly the slot Alpine covets at this stage of the year. The placing brands the team the front-runner outside the established elite, a status that yields both steady points and a welcome shot of restored belief after a run of leaner seasons.
The buffer back to Haas and Racing Bulls grants Alpine some breathing space, yet the team treats its position as something to protect rather than take for granted. In a tightly bunched midfield, the balance can tip across a single weekend, and Enstone knows that turning up with results week in, week out is the only sure route to holding fifth over the long haul. A couple of blank Sundays, or a rival striking form, could erode that cushion just as fast as it was built.
Gasly anchors the campaign with a robust personal run, lying eighth in the drivers’ standings on forty-one points. The Frenchman has long served as the team’s benchmark, and his dependable scoring underpins Alpine’s footing in the constructors’ fight this season.
Canada laid bare the team’s collective punch. Both Gasly and Colapinto banked points there, Colapinto taking sixth as the leading midfield runner despite brushing the wall mid-race, a result that bottled Alpine’s competitiveness even on an awkward afternoon.
Double scores carry outsized worth in a contest this tight. Bringing both cars home in the points is the surest method of stacking a cushion over Haas and Racing Bulls, and Alpine’s knack for managing it on demanding tracks has sat at the centre of its grip on fifth.
The Form Swing
What lends Alpine’s 2026 its intrigue is the shifting equilibrium between the drivers. Across 2025 the intra-team verdict was emphatic: Gasly out-qualified Colapinto in twelve of seventeen sessions and outscored him sixteen points to nil, a thumping assertion of seniority.
That command has not transferred cleanly into the new year. In 2026 Colapinto has hit back, getting the better of Gasly over both the Miami and Canadian weekends and serving notice that the chasm of twelve months ago has closed considerably as the Argentine has grown into the cockpit.
The turnaround means more than the raw numbers suggest. A driver who stood firmly second-best on the stopwatch a year earlier is now swapping blows with a respected, seasoned teammate, and that climb points to real development rather than a fluke result on a kind weekend or a lucky roll of circumstance.
His Canadian drive crystallised Colapinto’s arc. Bouncing back from contact with the wall to still cross the line as the front midfield runner asked for cool nerves and pace alike, the sort of outing that nudges a hopeful youngster toward a credible long-term proposition for the team.
Austria and the Bigger Picture
Alpine arrives at the Red Bull Ring with sharp goals. Keeping the points streak alive tops the list, both to shore up fifth in the constructors’ standings and to sustain the rhythm that has turned the team into a reliable midfield fixture this season.
The in-house duel layers extra spice onto the weekend. With Colapinto now matching and occasionally bettering Gasly, every qualifying run and race becomes a reading on where the true balance lies, and Austria supplies one more data point in that unfolding comparison.
Gasly’s challenge is to reclaim the authority that shaped his 2025. His forty-one points and eighth place affirm his quality, but the rise of a resurgent stablemate turns up the heat on his side of the garage and calls for an answer across the rounds to come.
For Colapinto, the brief is continuity. Having flipped the script in Miami and Canada, he must now prove those showings form a trend rather than a blip, leaning on Austria to cement his billing as a driver fit to shoulder Alpine’s midfield charge.
However the Red Bull Ring plays out, the internal contest bodes well for Enstone. Two drivers leaning on each other hard tends to raise a team’s overall ceiling, sharpening setups, feedback and qualifying intensity across both sides of the garage. For Alpine that rivalry could prove the very ingredient that keeps it clear of the chasing pack as the season rolls on, provided the competition stays constructive rather than spilling into costly on-track clashes.
Frequently asked questions
Where does Alpine stand in the 2026 constructors’ championship?
Alpine occupies fifth, the best-of-the-rest spot, ahead of Haas and Racing Bulls. The team reaches the Austrian Grand Prix on a points-scoring streak it aims to extend so as to firm up its billing as the leading midfield force this season.
How has the Gasly–Colapinto battle changed?
In 2025 Gasly out-qualified Colapinto twelve times across seventeen sessions and outscored him sixteen points to zero. The balance has swung in 2026, with Colapinto getting the better of Gasly over the Miami and Canadian weekends as the margin between the two has shrunk markedly.
What happened in Canada for Alpine?
Both Alpine drivers scored in Canada. Colapinto came home sixth as the leading midfield runner despite brushing the wall during the race, while Gasly likewise reached the points, underlining the team’s midfield strength even on a testing weekend.
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