Red Bull drops behind Alpine in 2026 F1 championship – here’s how it happened
Red Bull is down to sixth in the constructors’ championship going into the April break, with Pierre Gasly’s performance narrowly vaulting Alpine ahead
Motorsport photo Alpine may have been a clear backmarker in the 2025 Formula 1 season while the world drivers’ title narrowly eluded Red Bull’s Max Verstappen , but three rounds into the 2026 campaign, the two teams are neck and neck. With Pierre Gasly beating Verstappen to seventh under the chequered flag in the Japanese Grand Prix, both teams have scored 16 points, but Alpine is ranked ahead on countback. Read Also: 2026 F1 championship standings: Kimi Antonelli is the youngest leader This is no coincidence, as both Red Bull drivers have openly been unhappy with the RB22’s performance and behaviour – and remain unsure how to even improve the situation.
After Isack Hadjar and Verstappen qualified respectively eighth and 11th at Suzuka, the Frenchman lamented “what we are seeing this weekend makes no sense”, while his elder branded the car “undriveable” and “all over the place”. Hadjar failed to score points on Sunday after losing out in the safety car sequence – he branded the car “undriveable” to the point that it was “dangerous” – while Verstappen finished eighth, three tenths behind Gasly after a 26-lap battle. “I think we were a tiny bit faster a lap, but you just can't pass – well you can pass, but then you have no battery the next straight,” the four-time world champion commented.
“So, I tried one time just to have a look, so I passed him into the final chicane, but then you have no battery the next straight. So I was like, ‘See you later! Try again in a few laps!
’” Red Bull’s championship situation has been compounded by technical issues taking Hadjar and Verstappen out of the Melbourne and Shanghai races respectively, when they were running in fifth and sixth, causing a potential 16-point loss. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing Meanwhile, although Franco Colapinto has struggled, Gasly has maximised Alpine’s potential, after the team sacrificed its 2025 campaign to focus on the new-for-2026 regulations early on. Gasly qualified seventh in the last three sessions (sprint included), scoring points in every grand prix with 10th in Melbourne (from 12th on the grid), sixth at Shanghai and seventh at Suzuka.