Alpine holds Barcelona TPC test ahead of F1 2026 car launch – planetf1.com
Pierre Gasly (Alpine A525) in action at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix
The Alpine F1 team held a TPC test with its 2025 car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Tuesday, PlanetF1.com has learned.
It comes ahead of the launch of the new A526 machine on January 23 (Friday).
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Alpine is targeting a much-improved season in F1 2026 after a disappointing campaign last year.
The Enstone-based team finished bottom of the constructors’ standings with 22 points, a massive 58 adrift of ninth-placed Sauber (now competing as Audi).
Alpine has switched to Mercedes power units for F1 2026 after dropping its own Renault engines at the end of last season.
The new A526 car will be officially launched on Friday January 23, three days before the start of F1’s first official pre-season test in Barcelona.
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A five-day test will be held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya between January 26-30 with each team limited to a maximum of three days of running.
Ahead of the first test, it has emerged that Alpine held a TPC [Testing of Previous Car] outing at the former Spanish Grand Prix venue on Tuesday.
PlanetF1.com understands that race drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, as well as reserve driver Paul Aron, took turns behind the wheel of Alpine’s 2025 car.
A number of F1 teams prepare for a new season with a so called ‘wake-up test’ with a previous car, designed to get drivers and staff back up to speed after the winter break, ahead of the launch of its car for a new season.
Alpine took the same approach ahead of the 2025 season with Colapinto and Jack Doohan carrying out a TPC test in Barcelona in early February before the arrival of the team’s new car, with Ferrari also holding several TPCs ahead of last season.
Alpine’s outing in Barcelona comes after Gasly outlined his ambitions for the new season with the former Red Bull driver claiming that 2026 could be “the first time” he will get to show his true potential in F1.
The move to Mercedes engines, widely expected to be the class of the field in 2026, has been tipped to transform Alpine’s fortunes.
Gasly, who famously won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I just care about being fast.
“If we’ve got a good car, I do believe [2026] could be the first time I get a car to really show my talent and my skills.
“That’s all I care [about]. If I need to do more work or more preparation, I’m the kind of guy to do it.
“I don’t leave anything on the table and I’m planning this winter to work even more with the team to make sure I’m on top of any advantage I could gain.
“Whether [the new rules for 2026 are] going to be good or better or not for racing, I don’t know.
“But I’m at the stage of my career where I just want to win and I’ll do anything I can do to make it happen.”
Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher
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