"Every year it's just the same": F1 pundit dismisses Alpine as a potential F1 frontrunner 

F1 pundit Mark Hughes mentioned that he does not see the Alpine F1 team becoming a front-runner in the 2026 season as they have not shown enough progress since Reno entered the grid as a works team in 2016.

Since the 2018 season, the French outfit has always been a consistent midfield runner and notched up some podiums in 2020. However, they have failed to make the next big step like Aston Martin. Their management have devised a 100-race plan to make them championship contenders in the 2026 season.

While appearing on The Race podcast, Hughes said:

"I always said that they will always be this since at least 2018 as they rebuilt the team which has suffered such a starvation of investment when Renault did not own it. It's always been that the next step will take us over the line and make us into a top team."

Hughes added:

"Every year, it's just the same as they are promising little shoots and they go back down again it's all a flat line really. It would be great to see it happen but we haven't seen anything that gives you confidence or faith."

Alpine F1 team boss reveals their plans for upgrades ahead of the summer break

Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer stated that they are planning to bring upgrades before the end of the summer break to swing their level of competitiveness after recent races.

The Alpine team principal said, as per Motorsportweek:

“Our upgrades have worked this year and there’s another significant one coming before the break. I hope that too will help because the swing of relative competitiveness does that kind of stuff."

"So yeah, I’m looking forward to our next one. There’s an upgrade in Hungary but not that big. Then there’s a floor in Spa. So putting all that together, and it’s all additive, I think we should go well.”

Szafnauer continued:

"From a cost cap perspective, we have the headroom. From an ATR [aerodynamic testing restrictions] perspective, that’s where we have to decide how much compromise there is on the ’24 car versus the ’23 car."

"That will have to be a strategic decision as to what we continue to do. But as we sit here today, most of our efforts are still on the ’23 car, not on the ’24 car.”

It will be interesting to see if the new upgrades help make Alpine more competitive.