{"id":38712,"date":"2026-01-24T11:12:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T16:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=38712"},"modified":"2026-01-24T11:12:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T16:12:02","slug":"alpine-optimistic-about-reliability-after-first-2026-shakedown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2026\/01\/24\/alpine-optimistic-about-reliability-after-first-2026-shakedown\/","title":{"rendered":"Alpine optimistic about reliability after first 2026 shakedown"},"content":{"rendered":"

After finishing last year’s Championship in rock bottom, Alpine<\/a> see 2026 as a chance for redemption. With Mercedes power and an early decision to abandon last season’s A525 to prioritise the 2026 regulations, there are no excuses for Alpine this season.<\/p>\n

Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore<\/a> emphasised this point at Alpine’s official launch on Friday, where he also called upon on his drivers to provide the final piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

Alpine completed their first ‘filming day’ of the year in Silverstone yesterday, officially getting the A526’s first laps on the board.<\/p>\n

Whilst these shakedown primarily consist of preliminary checks, Alpine were notably pleased with how smoothly proceedings went.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n

Alpine reflect on solid first day of running for A526<\/h2>\n

During the ground effect era (2022-2025), Alpine were often the team most troubled by reliability issues. This was especially prevalent in 2022, when both engine and mechanical failures became a major limiting factor.<\/p>\n

Heading into a new generation of cars, ensuring a high level of reliability is of the utmost importance. Particularly to start the season, having a dependable package could prove a huge advantages.<\/p>\n

Because of this, some outfits have been cautious about how many laps they complete in their 2026 shakedowns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although teams are permitted to run for a maximum of 200km on these ‘filming days’, many have opted for less vigorous programmes – preferring to take a more cautious approach to minimise the chances of any issues.<\/p>\n

Only once teams are more confident will they increase the volume and intensity of their programmes. In this sense, next week’s Barcelona tests will provide some useful indicators.<\/p>\n

For Alpine, their first session with the A526 when very smoothly. Technical Director David Sanchez, as quoted by nextgen-auto<\/a>, was more than satisfied with the team’s Silverstone debut:<\/p>\n

“Right from the start, being able to string together laps without stopping is a real confidence booster. It shows that we can arrive in Barcelona and get straight to work.<\/em><\/p>\n

“We wanted to do the 200 km. On Wednesday morning, we went straight out for a 5 or 6 lap stint, and the car was working well. Then we stopped while waiting for the weather to improve, but it never really did.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“In the middle of the afternoon, we said to ourselves – ‘Okay, what do we do? We have to go out.’ We sent Pierre out, we simply left him on the track, and he went around and around.<\/em><\/p>\n

“We only stopped because he told us it was starting to get dark, and he was having trouble seeing.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Honestly, reaching 200km would have been quite easy. It just gives us a little more confidence before going to Barcelona and being able to immediately rack up the laps.”<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Optimism about Mercedes deal<\/h4>\n

Of course, the integration of Mercedes engines one of the biggest changes for Alpine this year. Initially, moving away from Renault power was a move that divided opinion.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, giving up on Renault engines (especially as their engineers had already spent years developing the 2026 powertrains) could be interpreted as a failure to commit in the team’s own talent.<\/p>\n

From the opposite side of the debate, some argued that Mercedes power units were almost guaranteed to be more competitive. Based on reports about the German manufacturer’s 2026 power unit progress, Alpine’s decision to change suppliers could be vindicated.<\/p>\n

According to Sanchez, Alpine’s collaboration with Mercedes is going smoothly:<\/p>\n

“We work in the most open way possible. The exchanges are very good, the integration of this power unit went very well.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Now we will continue to correct the remaining minor issues and focus on reliability and overall integration.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Generally speaking, the other Mercedes customer teams – McLaren<\/a> and Williams<\/a> – have received more coverage throughout the winter break. Both teams were widely seen as more likely to capitalise on a potentially superior Mercedes engine.<\/p>\n

Of course, Williams’ failure to have the FW48 ready for Barcelona changes the narrative. To be clear, Alpine’s recent track record does not inspire a huge amount of confidence about their 2026 chances – regardless of their power unit supplier.<\/p>\n

Still, the engineers in Enstone should not be written off. The Alpine technical department is led by David Sanchez, a highly respected figure who held senior positions at Ferrari<\/a> and McLaren.<\/p>\n

Even prior to Sanchez’s arrival, Alpine produced the fourth-fastest car when the 2022 regulations kicked-off. They accomplished this despite carrying a performance deficit from the Mercedes engine.<\/p>\n

For 2026, therefore, the French squad’s trajectory will be intriguing to observe.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Alpine F1 Media Gallery<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After finishing last year’s Championship in rock bottom, Alpine see 2026 as a chance for redemption. With Mercedes power and an early decision to abandon last season’s A525 to prioritise the 2026 regulations, there are no excuses for Alpine this season. Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore emphasised this point at Alpine’s official launch on Friday, where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":38713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2575,2582],"class_list":["post-38712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-alpine-f1-team","tag-f1-2026-season"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38712"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38715,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38712\/revisions\/38715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}