Alpine has announced it will be unveiling the livery of its 2026 car, the A526, on Friday 23rd January at a launch event in Barcelona.

Alpine sits at the bottom of this season’s Constructors’ standings, but will be undergoing a significant shift next season when it switches from factory Renault power, to buying customer power units from Mercedes.

Alpine announces F1 2026 launch date

Alpine has become the fourth team to announce its F1 2026 launch plans, with both Red Bull teams set to unveil their cars at a Ford event on 15th January, while Aston Martin announced on Monday that its next challenger, the AMR26, will be launched on 9th February.

The Enstone-based team will head into Formula 1’s new era by switching from factory team status to customer team, having shelved its plans for a 2026 engine to purchase customer power units from Mercedes instead.

It also has its 2026 driver line-up secured, when it was confirmed ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix that Franco Colapinto would be continuing alongside Pierre Gasly next year.

Ahead of the first pre-season test, which takes place behind closed doors at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from 26th January, Alpine will unveil its new livery three days beforehand.

More on the huge upcoming changes in the F1 2026 season

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Both the team’s drivers and its senior management will be in attendance, with a shorter-than-usual turnaround between the current season ending and the ramp-up towards the new season beginning.

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen spoke of the team’s will to push its way back towards the front of the field in Formula 1, with its staff at Enstone working hard on next season’s car.

He told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media in Qatar when asked what he’s been impressed by at the team so far: “It’s a cliche, but it’s a racing team. It’s full of people with racing spirits.

“It’s had mixed results recently, but I think that there’s a passion and a will to put it back to where it has been in the past.

“The dedication is huge from the top to the bottom of the company, and it’s my job to coordinate that, strengthen the areas that are good, restrengthen the areas where we are weak, and bring some common sense and consistency to the management.

“I mean, there have been too many changes over the last few years at Entone. I don’t criticise any of my predecessors, but it’s time for patience and common sense and consistency. Of course, we want the team to be better, and ‘patience’ and ‘Formula 1’ don’t go well together, but that’s the task.

“So, we have to spend the next few years building and there’s a slow grinding process that is F1. There are no magic bullets, you just have to fix a million details in place.

“More than anything, it’s a people business. So I’ve kind of relearned that lesson [since taking on the role].”

There are three pre-season tests taking place in 2026, totalling 11 days for the teams to get to grips with their all-new cars as Formula 1 makes enormous regulation changes, with both the power unit and chassis rules changing at the same time.

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