F1 expert says £1.18bn-valued team are now ‘phoning it in’ this season but still getting a ‘huge amount’ out of their 2025 car

Every team in the Formula 1 paddock is currently performing a tricky balancing act behind the scenes.

Each manufacturer knows that they have 24 race weekends this season to concentrate on before one of the most seismic changes in F1’s history takes place over the winter break.

The 2026 regulation changes are set to shake up the sport and could upset the established status quo.

McLaren will hope that they can retain their advantage with the help of Mercedes’ rumoured favourable power unit, and the Silver Arrows will be hoping their two drivers are only going to keep improving to set them up for a championship battle.

Ferrari will know a reset might be coming at the right time for them and in particular Lewis Hamilton, who hasn’t had the easiest start to life with the Scuderia.

Red Bull are stepping into the unknown with their first in-house power unit, and their job is now to keep Max Verstappen from deciding to leave if he doesn’t believe the team will be strong enough to compete at the front of the grid.

For every other team on the grid, the decision to switch focus to next year should be more straightforward given podiums and race wins in 2025 are likely to be already out of the question.

And while that may be the case, Alpine may be in a stronger position than many fans realise even if this season is no longer their primary objective.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Alpine ‘phoning it in’ ahead of Formula 1’s 2026 regulation changes

Journalist and F1 technical expert Matthew Somerfield was speaking on the Missed Apex Podcast about the upcoming changes to F1’s ruleset.

Somerfield was asked which teams are already starting to concentrate on the 2026 regulations, and explained, “Well, you mentioned Haas, so should we go there?

“Technically, although it’s not phoning it in, let’s say, their update list this weekend just gone was wings coming from the pool from last year’s car that they were putting back into the pool for this year.

“So, they were the designs that we’ve already seen and Ferrari did the same as well to be fair, and it is a thing that most teams will be happy to do.

“But I would imagine that if you’re looking for a team that are phoning it in, you’d have to look at Alpine, a team that barely put anything on the car in terms of development this season.

“They’ve got last year’s chassis, but they’re still getting a huge amount from the car.

“So it just goes to show that you don’t need to move forward in these regulations as much as you actually need to understand what you’re doing with the car to get more performance from it.

“I think that is something that we haven’t seen in the past from Formula 1, whereby you can stand still but still move forward.

“That has never really been the case, you’ve been able to out-develop other teams. And under this generation, you can just stand still a little.”

READ MORE: Who is Alpine F1 team principal Oliver Oakes? Everything to know

Alpine facing key decision ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season

The £1.18bn-valued Alpine team haven’t had the easiest start to this campaign.

Pierre Gasly only scored their first points of the year in Bahrain and was on course for another decent haul before he collided with Yuki Tsunoda on the first lap in Saudi Arabia.

Gasly’s new teammate Jack Doohan is one of four drivers yet to get off the mark but has shown glimpses of genuine pace.

Doohan’s seat is set to be safe until the summer, although Alpine haven’t helped their young driver by bringing in a host of alternatives, including Franco Colapinto.

Alpine’s power unit situation for 2026 is already sorted, with their Renault engines being abandoned as they become the latest Mercedes customer team.

However, it’s far from clear what their driver line-up will be next year, but at least the work they did over the winter and at the back end of last season has set them up well for 2025, even if their priority remains the upcoming campaign.