Gasly upbeat for 2026 despite testing season

Sitting 16th in the Formula One drivers’ standings, Pierre Gasly is just above five of his peers — two of them his Alpine teammates Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto.

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But as the Frenchman sits at the head of a table during a media session at the Alpine motor home at the Singapore Grand Prix paddock on Oct 2, there is an air of confidence that exudes from him.

Fresh off inking a contract extension through the 2028 campaign with the Enstone-based team on Sept 6, the 29-year-old’s optimism stems from the opportunities he sees next season.

The 2026 campaign will see the introduction of sweeping new regulations in the biggest overhaul of the sport in more than a decade.

This gives Alpine a chance to wipe the slate clean. They are bottom of the grid on the constructors’ standings, with 20 points — all of which have come via Gasly, whose sixth-placed finish at July’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone is the best he and the team have achieved this season.

"At the start of the year, it (a new contract) was clearly not like a no-brainer because we are going through a difficult season, harder than we thought," said Gasly, adding that he and his team agreed that if they want to seize the opportunity to put the team at the top of the grid, they needed to be "quite aggressive and quite bold in our approach".