Alpine shakedown in Barcelona? Here's why fans are celebrating too early

Across various social media platforms, photos appeared on Tuesday of Alpine trucks driving onto the Circuit de Catalunya grounds. At a time of year when teams typically present their upcoming cars and put them through initial tests, many added two and two and assumed Alpine would be running a new car.

This assumption is incorrect. The Alpine team has indeed partially arrived in Barcelona, but this is in preparation for the first official Formula 1 test, GPblog has learned. That will take place at the same circuit in a week and a half. In the lead-up, Alpine is taking ample time to set up its garages and hospitality after the winter break.

Alpine is scheduled to unveil its new Mercedes-powered F1 car on January 23. That will also happen in Barcelona. It is unclear when the French team will first put the car on track. That may not happen until the first test day.

Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are the two drivers tasked with improving results after a disastrous 2025 season. With the Mercedes power unit, the expectation is that things should improve.