Alpine F1 Team will look to return to the points at this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the squad’s home race located just 25 miles from its Enstone factory, after a pointless outing in Austria marked the first time the team failed to score all season.
Drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto will compete in another Sprint format weekend at the iconic 5.891km circuit, which has hosted Formula One since the championship’s inaugural race in 1950. Both drivers expressed determination to deliver a strong result in front of team staff expected to fill the grandstands.
“I am looking forward to Silverstone this weekend, especially as it’s the team’s home race and, generally speaking, it is one of the best tracks on the calendar to drive,” Gasly said. “It is high-speed throughout, especially Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel, which is one of the best corner combinations of the entire season. We left Austria feeling a bit disappointed as we did not score points for the first time all season. We have a lot of data to look at, a lot of things to learn and understand and the good thing about back-to-back races is that we have an immediate chance to go again.”
Colapinto, who has already driven the A526 around Silverstone at a filming day earlier this year, acknowledged the difficulties the team faced in Austria but said he has been preparing in the simulator. “I’m hoping to feel a bit more comfortable with the car,” Colapinto said. “I think we’ve come away from Austria slightly down on our luck as we finished outside the points which was obviously not the result the team was hoping for. We need to hit the ground running as it’s a Sprint event and we need to be fast from Friday as we aim to take points from the weekend with the two opportunities to score.”
Alpine’s Academy drivers will also be in action across the support categories. In FIA Formula 2, Gabriele Mini continues to lead the championship after securing his seventh podium of the season in Austria. Alex Dunne sits fourth in the standings after adding points in Spielberg, while Kush Maini also scored in the Sprint Race. The Silverstone round marks the seventh F2 event of the year.
F1 Academy also returns to the schedule for the first time since Montréal for its third round of the season. Alpine Academy driver Nina Gademan, who won the opening race of the campaign in Shanghai in March, is targeting a return to the podium after a difficult weekend in Canada.
Silverstone’s 18-turn layout has evolved significantly since its original eight-corner configuration in 1950, though several classic corners including Woodcote, Copse, Maggots, Becketts and Stowe remain part of the circuit. The high-speed nature of the track presents a particular challenge for the current generation of Formula One cars, with Gasly noting there are “many different things to manage” around the lap.