Overview
- Alpine sits last in the 2025 constructors’ standings on 20 points after stopping upgrades to the A525 to focus early on the 2026 car.
- Briatore acknowledges the all-but-zero 2025 development was a harsh call and says parallel programs were not feasible with current capacity.
- He attributes Alpine’s wider decline to decisions made a decade ago in Renault’s hybrid power unit program, not to current Viry staff.
- The team has committed to switching from its own Renault unit to Mercedes power for 2026, a move Briatore frames as a pragmatic reset.
- Driver plans for 2026 are described as a choice between Franco Colapinto and Paul Aron, with reports indicating Colapinto is the frontrunner after recent improved form and a noted team-orders dispute in Austin.