Alpine abandon F1 goal 'timelines' ahead of new era

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen has asserted he is not focusing on timelines to bring the team into a successful position in F1.

Alpine endured a challenging campaign in 2025 and ended the year at the bottom of the standings with just one point-scoring finish in the final 11 grand prix weekends.

It marked the first time that the Enstone-based squad has finished a season rooted to the last spot in the championship in its history.

The team has gone through various management changes in recent years, with Nielsen one of various figures to hold a senior position with the squad.

In the past, Alpine declared a 100-race plan to return to the helm of the F1 pecking order - instead, it has trended in the opposite direction.

Nielsen has declared he will not seek to impose a timeline on Alpine's latest quest to turn around its form.

“I’m not a person who believes in a '100 race plan' or a 'three-year plan' or a 'five-year plan',” Nielsen told select media including RacingNews365.

“I believe you put the best people you can get in the right positions. You give a clear mission, get the army marching all in the same direction, and you just work as hard as you can and do the best job you can.

“You mill away at it. It's a slow grinding process, and you hope eventually you do a better job than everybody else.

“I can tell you we're building a better car next year than we have this year. I can't tell you whether that will line-up on the grid in first or 10th for 20th - I don't know.”

Alpine opted early in the season to switch focus to the 2026 car, which is being built under a brand-new set of technical regulations.

It resulted in a season off the pace, but it was a decision that was fully supported by the drivers.

As it hopes to commence the 2026 campaign in a better run of form, Nielsen asserted that the vast changes to the cars creates an air of uncertainty.

“I’m confident we've made a step, but the other nine are also doing the same as we're doing, you don't know how much progress they've made,” he said.

“All I know is we're doing the best we can, and we're improving our structure. We're recruiting in the areas where we're weak.

“That grinding process starts now. You can't turn these things around in a few months or even a year.

“I was here when, when Renault bought Bennetton the first time around, it took us three years to win a race and five years to win a championship.

“And that metric doesn't necessarily hold true today. It might be shorter, it might be longer. You just do the best you can.”