BWT Alpine Formula One Team return to action at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix following a busy couple of weeks away from the racing calendar.

Drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto have spent the recent gap following the Japanese Grand Prix in March hard at work back at the team’s Enstone base to develop the A526 as well as taking the opportunity to rest after a busy pre-season.

Franco, in particular, has enjoyed an exciting break. Following a Filming Day at Silverstone, he returned to his home city of Buenos Aires for a spectacular Road Show. In front of a 600,000-strong crowd of passionate Argentine fans, Franco performed high-speed runs and donuts in the race-winning E20 from 2012. In a historic event, he became the first Argentinian to drive a Formula One car on the city streets and the pure joy of the crowd made it a memorable experience.

The team’s full focus is now on Miami and competing once again. The Miami International Autodrome is hosting the second Sprint weekend of the year and has become known for being a quintessentially modern Formula One venue. The track, which winds round the Hard Rock Stadium, has a mixture of high-speed flowing corners, long straights, and narrow street-circuit sections. The opening Free Practice 1 session has been extended to 90 minutes and will be the only time drivers have to learn the track in the new generation of cars before Sprint Qualifying on Friday afternoon to determine the grid for Saturday’s Sprint Race.

Pierre Gasly:

“I am feeling very excited to go racing again. It feels a long time ago since Japan and now I am ready to be back in the car, competing and hopefully continuing from where we left off from Suzuka in terms of competitiveness. It has been quite refreshing to spend some time in one place without the stress of travelling around so much. I have been with family and friends at times, which has been great as we’re often quite limited on time when it comes to these things during a normal season. I even had chance to go to watch some football, a passion of mine, with a trip to Paris to watch the Champions League and a visit to Liverpool to see Anfield for the first time. Now my focus is back on racing and doing the best job possible in Miami. It will be really interesting to see what everyone brings in terms of upgrades. We, of course, want to resume from where we ended in Japan and that means being well in the mix for Q3 and points. I know the team at Enstone has worked very hard on bringing performance to the car and I look forward to being back in the A526 this weekend. It’s a Sprint event so it is important we maximise Free Practice 1 and then execute every session perfectly from then. In the end, we want points and that is our target.”

Franco Colapinto:

“After the gap following Suzuka, it’s really nice to be getting ready for another race week, especially for such a unique place like Miami! As a team we did some valuable work during the break on the Simulator, we had a productive Filming Day at Silverstone in the A526 and, of course, the amazing Road Show in Buenos Aires! I still can’t believe how special it was to drive a Formula One car at home. The fans were so supportive, and it was beautiful to do this for them. But now, my full focus is on Miami and the Sprint weekend ahead of us. We have a longer FP1 on Friday which will be very helpful to understand our car ahead of a very full-on weekend. I’ve not raced in Miami before, so this session is very important for me to learn the circuit before we enter Sprint Qualifying in the afternoon and the rest of the weekend. I am excited for the challenge and to be back racing! Our goal, as usual, is to do the best job possible and to resume the season with another points finish.”

Steve Nielsen:

“In Formula One terms, having a month away from racing is very unusual. That being said, it has been an exceptionally busy few weeks for the team as we prepare to resume the season in Miami this weekend. We have had a competitive start in 2026 with points scored at each round and that continues to be our intention at every event. We know our rivals will have worked hard on upgrades so it will be interesting to see some of the differences on Friday when we’re on track once again. And, rest assured, we have equally spent the time to review the strengths and weaknesses of our package and worked tirelessly to fast-track some items for Miami this weekend in order to, hopefully, stay in the fight for points. The drivers have spent some time at the factory in preparation and it was great to see Franco return home to Buenos Aires at the weekend in what looked like a spectacular demo event in one of our old cars. I am sure that would have re-energised him and given him the motivation to perform on track when we return to racing this weekend. Pierre too has been busy preparing and he is as hungry as ever to resume from where he left off and protect his 100% points scoring streak so far this year. We have an additional 30mins of Practice on Friday before the fast-paced nature of the Sprint weekend begins. We have to be on it and ready straight away and we look forward to going to Miami and giving it our best.”