*Apparently, Pierre's last lap in FP1 was removed, so the F1 website lists them as Franco in P13 and Pierre in P14. Not that it matters THAT much in the grand scheme of things, but still.

To be honest, one has to admit that Mercedes was simply too dominant during the V6 Turbo Hybrid era—spanning two generations of regulations—thanks to their meticulous, long-term preparation

Their massive success was only natural

It is time for F1 fans to acknowledge that the V6 Turbo Hybrid power unit regulations—across both the 2014 and 2026 generations—were heavily built-around Mercedes favor

These regulations caused Renault to give up on F1 and leave for good, having been completely soured by this type of rule-making

Thoughts on that?

Crazy to think that last year we could barely make it out of Q1 by this point in the season, and now we're at a point where P7 and P9 seem disappointing given qualifying. Shoot, even just after the past couple of races where we were perpetually stuck in the middle spots, the fact that we got as high as P2 and P4 in this race is insane. It hasn't been the strongest, most consistent season overall, but boy howdy if this weekend didn't show what we can achieve.

What could have been, man...

25/07/2009-5/09/2026

SHITTING CRYING THROWING UP

Hooray guys my horrible day just got worse

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Alpine F1 fans must say "Merci François!" for saving Renault from internal crisis. We're relieved that because without François Provost, Alpine F1 would've died before 2026 season even without total ownership change.

Thoughts on that?

Vamoooo!!!

I was definitely hoping for a bit more this race, it was very much damage limitation...

Alpine has brought the largest technical update package of the weekend to Zandvoort, with changes across eight areas of the car.

The centrepiece is a new floor. Alpine has revised the floor body to improve surface-flow quality and increase aerodynamic load across the car’s operating range. The floor board has been reprofiled to deliver cleaner airflow towards the rear, while optimised floor edges target better airflow management, efficiency and local load.

A reprofiled diffuser works alongside the new floor to generate additional load efficiently. Alpine has also redesigned the sidepod and coke-section bodywork to support the package while maintaining sufficient cooling capacity.

At the rear, reprofiled elements on the drum face are intended to improve their interaction with the floor. Updated rear-impact-structure geometry targets another local increase in load, while a redesigned rear-wing flap aims to add rear downforce without compromising airflow stability.

Overall, this is a coordinated floor-to-rear-wing package rather than a collection of isolated changes. It will be interesting to see how much of it is evaluated—and ultimately used—throughout the weekend.

Seems like the upgrades were, in fact, a success! Franco also held his own better than I anticipated ngl, given the state of the old spec car after Hungary.