F1 2026 team rundown pt.3 – Alpine and Audi

In the final part of our look at every team on the 2026 Formula One grid, Craig Scarborough evaluates the chances of new kid on the block Audi and an Alpine team desperate to finally make inroads.

Alpine Mercedes A526

As one of the team with the biggest changes behind the scenes from a management and technical perspective, Alpine gave up a lot of the previous season to focus on 2026.

Perhaps the biggest headline in their backstory, is the departure of Renault as a Power Unit supplier and the switch to Mercedes.

This suggests an aim of just getting thing done to make progress, after several season of struggles.

Their resulting A526 car is very different from its predecessor, but at the same time conservative in its early specification.

Some of the bigger changes are in the suspension, at the front the car now sports pull rod for the springs/dampers.

It also exploits some serious inclination to the wishbone geometry with the top wishbone’s rear leg reaching right down to the lower edge of the monocoque.

But it’s in the car’s aerodynamics that the story becomes split, there are a number of fascinating solutions employed on the car, while the Sidepod design appears a generation older than what we have seen on other cars.

Most notable on the A526 is the rear wing active aero. While most other teams have opted for a DRS like opening rear flaps, the Alpine flattens the flaps.

This creates one long flat rear wing in Straight Line Mode (SLM). It’s believed this creates slightly more drag, but not enough to handicap the car on straights, but it’s the downforce effect when opening and closing that is the win.

With a DRS-like set up, the opening of the flaps loses downforce abruptly and equally the return of stable downforce is slow as the wing closes.

With the Alpine, the single stack of profiles in SLM maintains the airflow over the entire wing, so as it returns to Corner Mode the downforce increases steadily.

This makes the Active aero effect more predictable for the driver, meaning they can possibly close SLM later to get a bigger speed boost over more of the straight.

Some interesting details elsewhere around the Alpine are the front wing and cockpit area.

The front wing profile rises sharply towards the endplate; this transition is marked by the use of an underwing fence.

This should reduce the load at the wing tip, allowing for control of the airflow around the front tyre. Otherwise, the endplate with its large strake is typical of what we’ve seen up and down the grid.

Then, around the cockpit, the A526 uses more fins and flaps than we see with most cars. The open cockpit with its raised sides creates a disruption to the airflow over the rear of the car.

These fins help bring the airflow closer to the engine cover, rather than spreading outwards affecting the rear wings performance.

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With its testing spec the Alpine performed through the tests and the appears to be a car, which will make a strong impression in the competitive midfield, especially with aid of the Mercedes PU.

In season development is likely to tell the bigger story for Alpine and whether they can improve their status in F1.

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Audi – R26

Is Audi a new team or a rebranded Sauber? The truth probably lies somewhere in between, with the new operation being an amalgamation of the two.

Sauber have a long history of performing well for their budget, its strong points being the cars aero.

While Audi doesn’t have F1 experience, but its exploits in WEC and Formula E show its expertise not just in powertrains, but team operations.

This combination will take time to mature but has huge potential going forwards.

We have to remember that the R26 is not just a new built to new regulations, but a wholly new powertrain starting from scratch. That notwithstanding the Audi is an interesting and innovative car.

Perhaps the biggest talking point for the R26 is the outwash sidepod philosophy, explained in detail here on Motorsport.tech during testing.

From the basic launch spec sidepods, the shape of the T-tray splitter, sidepod fronts and floor were all radically revamped for the second test.

It appears that the entire mid-section of the car is set up to create outwash to drive downforce generation towards the front of the floor.

Even the nose is revised to meet the new aero concept, the deep chinned nose tip follows the front wing shape, this drives airflow along the underside of the nose/raised chassis towards the mid-section.

Then, the T-tray and bib start the outwash, aided by the extreme shaped sidepod fronts and the vertical lip fronting the floor.

While this a logical solution, it does possibly come at the expense of total downforce from the underfloor, as the flow to the rear is compromised by the focus at the front.

Elsewhere the Audi follows the pullrod and inclined front suspension philosophy.

Its seems coincidental that several teams starting their 2026 programme went this route (Cadillac, Alpine, Williams), perhaps choosing to confirm that concept early to focus on other aspects of the car’s design?

Little is known about the car’s powertrain, nothing has been seen under the car’s skin, in testing it appeared at least reliable and with enough performance to keep them from the back of the timing tables.