Steve Nielsen has said Alpine has uncovered “some ideas and evidence” to explain why Pierre Gasly was outperformed by team-mate Franco Colapinto at the Miami Grand Prix.
The managing director of Team Enstone confirmed the French squad investigated why the one-time grand prix winner was less happy in the cockpit of the A526 than across the opening three rounds of the F1 season.
Colapinto twice qualified ahead of Gasly across the Floridian weekend, securing eighth in both sprint qualifying and grand prix qualifying, whilst his team-mate languished in P10 on both occasions.
The Argentine went on to score his best-ever F1 result with seventh place in the grand prix, promoted from eighth after Charles Leclerc’s post-race penalty, whilst Gasly’s race ended in a dramatic collision with Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls that flipped his car upside down.
The performances marked a stark reversal of form for Gasly, who had enjoyed the edge on Colapinto across the opening three rounds of the campaign.
“We’ve done some digging on Pierre’s side in the weeks since Miami to understand as to why, relative to the performances he has shown so far this season, he wasn’t too happy in the car across the weekend,” Nielsen said ahead of the weekend in Montreal.
“We have some ideas and evidence to suggest what occurred, and we hope both cars will be up there and scoring points again in Canada as we look to build some momentum during a very busy phase of the calendar.”
Gasly himself acknowledged the discomfort he experienced throughout the Miami weekend, confirming the team has identified potential solutions ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
“I was not totally comfortable in the car in Miami, so we’ve put some time in to try and understand why,” the 30-year-old added. “I think we have some answers, some directions to take in Canada, and the aim is to keep the momentum going as a team and deliver as many points as possible from the sprint and the grand prix.”
The exact nature of Alpine’s findings remains undisclosed, though Gasly had complained during the weekend of traction issues out of slow corners, particularly through the crucial Turn 11 and Turn 17 sequences at the Miami International Autodrome.
Despite telemetry showing reduced wheelspin compared to Friday running, the Frenchman reported inconsistent acceleration phases that left him off Colapinto’s pace.
Nielsen was keen to praise Colapinto’s performance after he helped lift the team to 23 points in the constructors’ championship, already surpassing its entire 2025 tally of 22.
“It was great to see Franco so comfortable at the last round, and we want him to now show some consistency and repeat that level of performance every weekend,” Nielsen said.
It underlines the significant step forward for Alpine, which finished dead last in the 2025 constructors’ standings but is fifth in the constructors’ table after four rounds this year.
