Last-placed Alpine needs to "fight with this car" and "put our elbows out", according to driver Pierre Gasly, with no significant updates coming to help save its 2025 Formula 1 season.
The Renault-owned team is being cut adrift at the bottom of the constructors' championship and in Austria last weekend it fell limply out of points contention despite running in the top 10 early on.
While only 29 points separate fifth-placed Williams from ninth-placed Sauber in the constructors' championship, Alpine is a full 15 points further back in last, having scored points at just three events this season and only twice in 11 attempts in grands prix.
Alpine F1 boss Flavio Briatore issued a glum but accurate summary of the team's situation on Sunday after the Austrian GP, saying its "level of performance is increasingly concerning".
"While yesterday the car was quick and should have been well inside Q3 with two cars, Sundays are a very different story for us and it is important we understand why this is, especially if we want to turn this season around from this difficult position," Briatore said.
Alpine's season has been a major disappointment given its promising end to 2024 and how strong its car looked in pre-season testing. But Bahrain, the host of the only pre-season test, flattered Alpine. Because the only time it has really looked that good since was when F1 returned to the Sakhir circuit for round four of the season.
Otherwise, it's been extremely hard going. That's despite Alpine's car being competitive in qualifying. It is seventh-fastest on average and has some impressive peaks on circuits with medium and high speed corners. But the car's slow-speed understeer is a weakness, and ride quality seems an issue based on an awful Monaco weekend in which Alpine was the only team to be slower than it was in 2024.
As is well documented, the engine is also lacking. Still underpowered, and poor on energy recovery, this means the overall package is particularly weak on certain power-sensitive circuits - and is especially vulnerable in races.
This is a key part of why its reasonable one-lap pace is translating into points so rarely. But there is a risk that the team also blames the power unit for all its ills when there are clearly car problems as well - as while Gasly's Austrian GP was hampered by some minor floor damage, that did not fully explain why the car shredded its tyres and Gasly dropped like a stone.
The A525 is a car that Gasly can take into Q3 on a good day, but as Briatore said, Sundays are another story. Down on power, weak on energy harvesting, and with a car that can also be exposed on certain circuits, Alpine needs a lot of stars to align to be competitive over a race distance.
Austria was a case in point. Gasly overachieved qualifying even though he could have started higher on the grid without a spin in Q3. But that didn't matter because he ran as high as sixth early on after an opportunistic opening lap avoiding the melee sparked by Kimi Antonelli spearing Max Verstappen.
Gasly's gallows humour post-race was that it's a shame the races aren't one lap long. Because it went downhill from there. He lost ground in the opening stint because he was one of precious few running on softs, which faded quickly, but then had a woeful time over the rest of the race struggling with a car so poor he described it as undriveable.
Whatever was damaged didn't seem to explain the extent of the struggle, or the terrible tyre management that meant Gasly faded miles from points contention.
"In terms of degradation, I think we are not in the best spot," Gasly admitted.
"So when I see some guys doing one one-stop [in Austria], it's quite impressive.
"We know we've got work to do on Sunday. How much exactly is difficult to say."
The F1 grid is more condensed than ever. And as is established, over a single lap the Alpine looks quite strong. But that just means it has a very good chance of ending the year with one of the fastest cars to finish last in the championship - a result that would be a big red flag, even though it does expect to make a significant step forward in 2026 with new rules and a switch to a Mercedes engine.
Despite being F1's most rollercoaster team, Alpine has never fallen this far relative to the opposition before. It's true that the team's progression has stagnated then slipped back every time it has moved to the top of the F1 midfield since Renault bought the team back for 2016. But it has always turned a downward trajectory around.
There is no greater example than when it saved its 2024 season with a shock double podium in the wet in Brazil late in the year, a result that flattered Alpine but was only possible because aggressive, effective development turned it from F1's slowest team to a regular points threat at the end of the year.
It turned a likely eighth place in the championship into a more respectable sixth. But a similar turnaround this year looks impossible. The weaknesses with this car are too chronic and there are no major updates planned, with active development now on the 2026 rules and nothing seemingly coming down the pipe for the 2025 design.
Asked what he can expect from the second half of 2025, Gasly said: "Fight with this car. That's the car we got and we'll try our best.
"We put ourselves in the best position after the first lap in 6th, behind George, best of the midfield.
"We need to try to repeat that and put our elbows out and try to defend as hard as we can."
