Pierre Gasly hopes Alpine can continue their form at 2026 Japanese Grand Prix

The Enstone team came away with 9 points across the Formula 1 weekend in Shanghai and both cars in the points for the first time since 2024, a result that underlined clear progress after the opening round in Melbourne. Gasly claimed the step forward was real, even if the final outcome still left him wanting more.

He said: “It is a nice feeling to come away from a race with solid points in the bag. We were in the mix all weekend in China and, of course, I left there wanting even more as I felt we left a little bit on the table and it could have turned out even better had circumstances come our way.

“That being said, we all learnt a lot which will help us for future races. It is probably a good sign that we leave a successful weekend with some disappointment and hopefully we can continue our form into Japan, one of my favourite places on the calendar.”

That mixture of satisfaction and frustration appears to reflect Alpine’s current position. The team has moved itself into the midfield fight, but China also suggested there was more available had everything fallen into place. For Gasly, that is the sort of frustration Alpine will accept if it means the baseline is now stronger.

Suzuka presents a very different test, with its fast, flowing layout expected to place fresh demands on the 2026 cars. Gasly knows the circuit well and has a personal connection to Japan from his earlier career, but he is wary of reading too much into the China result.

Gasly added: “It is a special place for me having raced part of my career there back in 2017. I will be visiting Tokyo, as I always do when it's Grand Prix week, as it's one of my favourite cities in the world. I just love the whole culture there and of course the food is incredible.

“Suzuka will be an interesting challenge in this year's cars. I don't think we should be setting ourselves any expectations as Suzuka brings many unique challenges with its high speed, flowing nature. I am ready for the challenge and I hope we can be on the pace straight away there to have another good weekend with more points added to our tally ahead of a mini April break.”

Franco Colapinto arrives in Japan carrying his own momentum after scoring his first point for Alpine in Shanghai. The Argentine also felt the weekend could have delivered more, but his focus now is on building on a result that confirmed the gains made by the team between rounds 1 and 2.

He said: “On reflection, I was pleased to leave Shanghai with my first point on the board for the team, especially after some very exciting on track battles throughout the race. It was a pity, however, that we weren't able to achieve even more as the potential was there but various things in the race did not go our way.

“I'm really impressed with the improvements the team has made early in the season with the difference between Melbourne and Shanghai very clear to see. I was in Enstone last week and spent some time with the team and on the simulator. It was great to enjoy this result with them especially after so much hard work from everyone over these last few months.”

For Colapinto, Suzuka adds another unknown. It will be his first race weekend in Japan and another new reference point in his first full campaign with Alpine, but his comments matched Gasly’s in one key area: the team believes progress is real, yet understands it still has to work hard to keep it.

Colapinto added: “We have showed what we can do now and are aiming to build on this as we head to Suzuka this weekend, which will be another new challenge. I'm really excited to race in Japan for the first time in my career, it's such an amazing country and I can't wait to experience the weekend at this famous track.

“If the first races of the year are anything to go by, we will have to work very hard to fine tune the car but I'm looking forward to it and am ready to build on our good result last time out ahead of the short break coming up next month.”

That same tone came from team boss Steve Nielsen, who admitted Alpine left the Chinese Grand Prix weekend pleased with the points haul but aware a bigger result may have slipped away. More importantly, he stressed that one encouraging weekend means little unless Alpine can repeat it.

Nielsen said: “We left China with quite a unique, bittersweet feeling, something this team has probably not experienced in quite a long time. On paper, it was of course a very positive result with 9 points scored across the weekend and both cars in the points for the first time since 2024.

“But there was a little bit of disappointment too as we did not fully maximise the weekend and we left Shanghai knowing more was possible, especially taking into consideration some of the misfortune other teams had in the race.”

Nielsen added: “The real challenge is to maintain our competitiveness by continuing to understand and maximise the entire package at the track and in our hard work and efforts behind the scenes at Enstone in bringing upgrades to the car.

“Suzuka is a new challenge and one we look forward to taking on. Where we will fare, frankly, we do not know but I know the team is ready to continue on a positive run and go there ready to give it our best with the aim of coming away with more points.”