Pierre Gasly said he “100%” shares the optimism of his boss Flavio Briatore but warned that such “big changes” mean the pecking order can only be seen on track.

The sweeping regulation changes in 2026 had Alpine boss Briatore forecasting great things for the Enstone team but Gasly has warned no simulation can truly predict the pecking order.

Pierre Gasly poses verdict for Alpine title chances

At the last race in Barcelona, Briatore appeared in front of the world’s media and was very ambitious in his goals for Alpine, suggesting they could be title contenders in 2027.

“When you are in Formula 1, you’re dreaming as well to do the job,” he began. “In this moment, the team is quite new. The team is not performing like I wanted.

“I believe we need 2026 to be competitive, to at least sometimes see the podium very close. These are what we’re looking for. And why not 2027? We see what happened to Red Bull.

We see McLaren, two years ago, three years ago, was in the bottom of the line. We see Renault was in the bottom of the line two years and after, they won the Championship.

“We see Benetton was always in ’91, ’92, ’93 in the bottom of the line in qualifying. In ’94, ’95, ’96, we competed. In ’95, ’96, we won the Championship. In this business, fortunes are changing a lot.

“A few years ago, Red Bull was dominating completely. Now McLaren is dominating completely. Everybody is working hard in this business.”

Asked in Montreal if he shared that optimism, Gasly said “100%” and that the new regulations were a “brand new page” to work on.

“At the moment, you’ve got the top four – McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes – they are just a step ahead of the midfield,” Gasly, who is P14 in the championship said. “It will take quite a bit of time to close the gap.

“Things starting from a brand new page with these regulations, it just gives a much bigger opportunity and much bigger rewards for any team in the midfield.”

Despite this potential, Gasly also warned that no amount of data in the simulator can truly predict what will happen on track and said the relevant grid order will only be known after the first test.

“I think we are in good shape,” he continued. “I’m happy with the way the guys are working at the factory.

“Everybody is full of confidence and optimism and motivation to really get the car in a great place very soon, but at the same time, we won’t have the answer until we shake the car down.

“And really, it’s such a big change. Trying it in the simulator is such a massive change, we won’t know how we compare to the others once we get the car to the first test.”

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A major change for the team in 2026 is the arrival of a Mercedes power unit as Renault ceases to be an F1 engine supplier. Asked how much confidence he draws from that, Gasly said there is no guarantee Mercedes will have the best engine but history shows they are always a top performer.

“For sure, this is giving confidence,” the 29-year-old said. “At the same time, there is no guarantee that they will get the best engine for next year.

“Just going from past years – they always seem to be either the best or one of the best.

“In terms of chassis, we know we’ve got work to do. We have a chassis which is reasonable and pretty good. It doesn’t mean we can’t do better.”

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