Can Alpine be a top team?
- Photo: XPB Images
This is a question that has lingered since Fernando Alonso was still with the team. After a disastrous 2025, Alpine found its path in 2026 with Pierre Gasly leading the campaign and helping the media forget the scandals that shook the squad off the track. Next year, the partnership with Gucci will be a significant moment.
However, there is still a long road ahead to determine Alpine’s role in the coming years. One path depends on the team’s future, unsettled due to ongoing negotiations over a portion of the shares that have dragged on for months. In addition, Franco Colapinto is not having a good year. He has only 19 points, 23 fewer than Gasly, and is beginning to become a concern for the squad. The time has come to consider alternatives.
Does Haas still need Ocon?
Photo: XPB Images
For those following the season, the answer is clear: no. The driver is offering little to the team in 2026, despite having been crucial for the squad’s stability last year. So far, he has only three points and performances criticized even by the team principal, Ayao Komatsu.
Behind the scenes, the name of Brazilian Rafael Câmara has already emerged as a likely bet for the Frenchman’s seat. Yet, the youngster’s performance in this season’s Formula 2 could be a hurdle. In any case, Haas still has a question that has chased it for years: will this team achieve something in F1? And, with Câmara’s possible entry, will it be merely Ferrari’s B-team?
What is Williams’ fate?
Photo: XPB Images
Those who grew hopeful about Williams in 2025 took a hard hit this year. The team managed to build a heavy car, an inadmissible error. The consequences are disastrous: all progress, not only on the track but also in the team’s image, is being eroded this season.
James Vowles seems lost, lacking the same firm stance he showed during the team’s best moments. Few advances and two potential drivers being wasted at the back of the grid. Alexander Albon should stay, but Carlos Sainz appears to be stepping away from the project, which is surprising given the Spaniard’s years of backing a crisis-ridden McLaren.
If Sainz and Albon leave, Williams’ fate becomes even more questionable. It is essential to have a driver who can lead the team toward lasting improvement. The squad had a duo on this mission in 2025. Now it seems Albon and Sainz are merely people guiding the cars on race weekends.
A turning point for Aston Martin?
Photo: XPB Images
Another team that disappointed greatly in 2026. The car looked like a puzzle with a broken piece and the parts never fit. The situation was so absurd that the drivers had to take their hands off the wheel to avoid nerve damage from the intense shuddering.
However, after many promises, the major update to the AMR26 arrived at the Hungarian GP and surprised. The car moved back into the midfield and brought relief to the team and its fans. There is still a need for improvement in the Honda engine, a partnership that started on shaky ground but seems to be aligning as the season progresses.
If this really is the turning point for Aston Martin, the team could present a brighter outlook for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in 2027. But they must organize better, as the departure of Adrian Newey left a gap in the project’s technical leadership, giving the impression that someone still needs to steer the team.
Does Cadillac have a future?
Photo: XPB Images
They do have a future, but the team will have to make hard decisions in the second half of the season. The problems of the first year were expected, but there is a sense that Cadillac still has not managed to define its identity within Formula 1. And that inevitably depends on the driver choices.
Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez were bets to bring experience to the project, but they hardly represent the team’s future. At the same time, Colton Herta, long touted as Cadillac’s priority, is having a disappointing season in Formula 2 and no longer inspires the same confidence.
Cadillac needs to use the remainder of 2026 to define a direction. Staying in the middle, without betting on experience to push for evolution and without committing to a long-term project, could be the worst-case scenario for a team still trying to find its place in Formula 1.
