Alpine sets Jan 23 Barcelona date to unveil 2026 livery as Mercedes era beckons
Alpine will pull the covers off its 2026 look on Friday, January 23 in Barcelona, teeing up a hard reset as the Enstone outfit abandons factory Renault power for customer Mercedes units under F1’s new rules.
The A526 livery reveal comes three days before the first pre-season running begins at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on January 26, with that opening test set to take place behind closed doors. It’s a brisk turnaround at the end of a bruising campaign that has left Alpine rooted to the foot of the Constructors’ standings, and the team is openly treating 2026 as a break in the clouds rather than just another launch.
Alpine becomes the fourth outfit to pin down its unveiling plans for F1’s reset. Both Red Bull teams are due to show their cars at a Ford event on January 15, while Aston Martin’s AMR26 is slated for February 9. Alpine’s Barcelona showcase will feature both drivers and senior management, setting the tone for a season where the team swaps “works” status for the uncertainty—and potential headroom—of life as a customer.
The power-unit move is the headline change. After shelving its in-house 2026 engine project, Alpine will join the Mercedes camp next year as the sport introduces downsized aero, active systems and a very different hybrid powertrain split. For Enstone, it’s a clean-sheet admission: stop trying to brute-force parity as a manufacturer and instead focus on a tight chassis concept around a proven PU.
There’s continuity in the cockpit, at least. Alpine confirmed ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix that Pierre Gasly will be partnered by Franco Colapinto in 2026, locking down its driver line-up early as the market shuffles ahead of the regulation reset.
Inside the factory, new managing director Steve Nielsen has been drumming the same message since he arrived: stop ripping up the plan every six months. Speaking to media in Qatar, the veteran operator praised the team’s racing spirit but stressed the need for patience and consistency after a chaotic few years. There are no magic bullets in F1, he said—just a million small fixes executed well.
That pragmatism is timely because 2026 will hand everyone a moving target. With both chassis and power-unit regulations changing in tandem, teams get a rare triple-helping of pre-season mileage: three tests totalling 11 days to feel out the new cars. Alpine will want every lap. Its recent form hasn’t matched its facilities or ambition, and switching to customer power strips away excuses while sharpening the spotlight.
Barcelona is a meaningful choice for the reveal. Alpine will roll straight from the launch into the first installation laps, a logical way to manage a compressed off-season and a parked calendar gap where traditional “show car” launches used to live. Expect more substance than theatre: an aerodynamic philosophy preview, the headline packaging choices around the Mercedes PU, and the first sense of how Enstone is interpreting active aero and energy deployment strategy under the incoming rules.
The team’s broader challenge is a cultural one. Enstone’s best days have come when the factory is quiet on the outside and ruthless on the inside—joined-up decision making, clear accountability, and very little drama. If Nielsen can lower the noise and let the engineers get on with it, a customer deal with Mercedes could be the most sensible pivot the project has made in years.
None of that guarantees pace on day one. Alpine starts 2026 with ground to make up and rivals who’ve been architecting around their engine partners for months. But the upside is obvious: if the A526 hits its correlation targets early and the Mercedes unit gives Enstone a stable foundation, the team can spend those 11 days doing the thing it hasn’t had the luxury to do for a while—refine, not firefight.
Circle January 23. Alpine’s next chapter begins in Barcelona, and it looks very different to the one that came before.
