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Gasly admits Alpine title dream is 'not happening' despite strong pre-season showing

Photo: Race Pictures

F1 News

11:01, 05 Mar

Updated: 11:19, 05 Mar

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byOlly Darcy

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly stated that his team have "done well" in pre-season, but he admitted that his World Champion statement from last year is "not going to happen".

"We've seen from the past in this massive change that you can have some surprises."

- Pierre Gasly

Huge alterations in the regulations for the 2026 season have shaken up the grid. Alpine changed power units after its production came to an end, moving to Mercedes powertrains for the upcoming campaign.

With all these changes, the French team showed some much-improved pace throughout pre-season testing, with Gasly finishing P5 and best of the rest by the end of the running in Bahrain.

However, last year, Gasly stated that a World Championship could be in the offing due to the regulation overhaul, but that now appears to be a far-fetched dream.

Photo: Race Pictures

"It's not going to be for this year!" the 30-year-old laughed to GPblog and others in Melbourne.

"But, longer-term, I think it just redistributes going into new regs and offers a lot of opportunities, and we've seen from the past in this massive change, regs change, that you can have some surprises."

"I think we've done well. Obviously, we could have always done better like any other team, but I know there'll be work to do, and as I said, the starting point is one thing. I think the most important will be to make sure we are developing faster than others and in better ways."

Alpine to be best of the rest?

Despite the fifth-place finish during pre-season testing, there is little belief that Alpine will be able to put pressure on the top four teams.

There have already been questions asked by Lewis Hamilton about potential sandbagging from Red Bull throughout testing, while Max Verstappen was quick to dismiss the 'quickest team' tag given before racing gets underway in Melbourne.

Gasly admitted that the leading teams may be out of reach in 2026, but there is some optimism that the gap between the top teams and the midfield could be closed come the end of 2026.

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari topped the timing sheets at the end of pre-season testing in Bahrain - Photo: Race Pictures

"I think the four teams are going to be clear ahead of us, the four top teams, and the target will be to close that gap as fast as we can throughout the year," continued the Frenchman.

"But from what we've seen in testing, there seem to be definitely four teams standing out, which should lock the first eight positions for a fair amount of time.

"Does it mean it's impossible to go and tease them a few times? Hopefully, sooner rather than later. At the moment, I think fairly and objectively that it will be to stand out of the midfield as a first target for the start of the year."