Gasly: F1 2026 reliability chaos masks Alpine losses

Pierre Gasly has suggested Alpine has lost ground on those ahead in recent weeks, but reliability issues for others have masked that that drop in performance.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli both suffered power unit-related retirements in Canada and Barcelona respectively, and among its customers, after a double McLaren DNS in China, Lando Norris went out with a further battery issue in Monaco.

Pierre Gasly: Mercedes power ‘perfect’ at Alpine

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Alpine moved from being a factory power unit supplier in Formula 1 through parent company Renault, to taking on customer status for 2026, citing the lower cost and long-held strength of Mercedes power behind the decision, despite a 2026 Renault engine project having already been underway.

The Enstone-based team has seen a significant improvement in its standing so far this season, going from the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship to holding the unwanted-but-improved ‘best of the rest’ tag, largely behind Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull this year.

With Mercedes’ power unit having had teething troubles in the early rounds, Toto Wolff committed to a full investigation as to what is happening for its own team and its customers.

In a recent update, technical director James Allison confirmed Mercedes’ battery issues had been “understood”, admitting the team’s recent retirements had been “very, very painful”.

For Gasly, though, who including Sprints has scored points at every round so far this season, hopes for his year to continue as is – instead placing his focus on improving Alpine’s overall competitiveness.

“All I can say is, it’s been perfect so far,” he told PlanetF1.com and others when asked about Mercedes’ power unit. “I can’t really ask for more; I’m very happy with what we’ve got.

“I think [what] we’re doing in terms of reliability, everything is perfect since the start of the year.

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“Touch wood, it’s going to continue like that, and we’re kind of capitalising on the retirements of other cars, but we’ve got to put ourselves on top of that midfield to make sure we get the most out of it and, so far, that’s what we’ve been doing the last few weekends, so I think the team can be pleased.

“On the flip side, I think the gap with the cars has actually grown since the last few weekends, and we’ve got to definitely find a way to bring more performance, because at the moment we’re just far away from these guys.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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