After a top-10 finish in the season opener, BWT Alpine Formula One Team is preparing for the first Sprint Event of the season in China this weekend.

Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto aim to continue pushing the A526 to its limits as the team learns more about maximising the new regulations ahead of the Sprint’s fast-paced format in Shanghai beginning on Friday.

The Shanghai International Circuit was purpose built for the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix and represents the Chinese symbol for Shang, meaning upwards. The track features long, flowing corners, including its spiralling opening sequence and a 1.2km back-straight, one of the longest on the Formula One calendar. For 2026, there will be four Straight Mode zones including the two previous DRS zones on the pit and back straight as well as the runs from Turn 4-6 and Turn 10-11. With one Free Practice session on Friday morning, understanding how best to approach the circuit with 2026 machinery will be a challenge for teams and drivers.

The Chinese Grand Prix also marks the first F1 Academy race weekend of the year with Nina Gademan continuing to represent the BWT Alpine Formula One Team entry. This year, Nina and the team will race with MP Motorsport aiming to build on her competitive debut season in the series last year which included a dominant victory at her home race in Zandvoort.

Pierre Gasly:

“After a day to reflect, I leave Melbourne with mixed feelings but, overall, I am quite positive going into Shanghai and the first Sprint event of the year this weekend. We had to battle hard to score a point in tenth place in a really challenging but quite enjoyable race on Sunday. From where we started the weekend, we made quite a lot of progress and I think that will continue to be the case as we continue to learn and understand how to maximise this new car. There are clearly many new things to learn and it appears some other teams are far more advanced with that than others so it was good to make steps forward from Friday through to Sunday and have a little reward by the end of the weekend. I do think more was possible had a few things gone our way. We know that is not enough, though, we know there are a few key areas we have to focus on and we will keep striving for more beginning in Shanghai. It is an interesting layout there with a lot of sweeping corners and hard braking zones. We will see what kind of racing it brings and I am excited to get there and give it our all.”

Franco Colapinto:

“The race in Melbourne was a tough one and it was not how we wanted to start the year. We had an uphill task from the start with the early penalty, which is something we will all learn from by sticking together as a team in both high and low moments. I managed to avoid what could have been a big crash at the start after Liam’s [Lawson] slow get-away but I was able to just about squeeze between him and the pit wall. It was a close, near miss and I’m happy I was able to react so quickly and stay in the race. I must say, seeing the replay of it still amazes me! After that, we got more of an impression of how the car feels in race trim and we were able to see some good potential compared to our rivals. We head to Shanghai together as a team to build on this weekend. It is really tricky to know what the track is going to be like with these cars and, as it’s the first Sprint weekend of the year, we’ve only got one hour on Friday to figure it out. That’s going to be a huge challenge for all the drivers and teams. We need to be very adaptable and to hit the ground running as there is lots to learn. I’m excited to see how it plays out.”