There is a quote, popularly misattributed to Albert Einstein, that the definition of insanity is to repeat an unsuccessful course of action in the expectation of a different outcome.
So you might wonder why Pierre Gasly, a Formula 1 grand prix winner who remains demonstrably competitive, would tie himself into a three-year contract extension with a team which has gone through innumerable management reshuffles and struggled to field a competitive car for almost a decade.
There are two distinct strands to the answer, the first and most obvious one being that there was no other competitive seat available: McLaren and Ferrari are spoken for, as is Mercedes (bar the signing of contracts). The mere thought of Red Bull must stir ghastly memories. In the immediate slipstream of this cluster, the likes of Williams and Sauber are also fixed for the near future.
But there are reasons for optimism, even though this season started off middlingly and then got worse, largely as a consequence of Alpine's early pivot to 2026 development. The technical group is now stable under ex-Ferrari engineer David Sanchez, who arrived last year, Flavio Briatore has an iron grip on management, and parent company Renault has reaffirmed its commitment to the F1 project.
