Alpine concede to 'nerves' over unusual F1 car trick

Alpine boss Steve Nielsen has conceded he is "nervous" over the team's unique interpretation of F1's new rear wing rules. 

For 2026, the traditional DRS slot-gap has been replaced by active aerodynamics, with teams coming up with vastly different solutions. 

Whilst most of the grid has opted for a conventional DRS-style opening, Alpine is the one outlier with its rear wing collapsing when straight mode is activated rather than popping open. 

The team ran this throughout testing, whilst Ferrari only ran for five laps with its 'upside down' rear wing as it evaluated the new part in the second Bahrain test, before reverting to the standard design. 

Overall, Alpine enjoyed a strong pre-season with its new engine supplier Mercedes after voluntarily giving up its works Renault status to become a customer team once again, with the A526 proving to be in the upper midfield, in a battle with Haas for fifth fastest.

Reflecting on the rear wing choice, managing director Nielsen explained that he was somewhat nervous about the solution the team had found.

"Of course it does," Nielsen told media, including RacingNews365, when asked if he was nervous that no team had followed Alpine's route.

"It would probably be a better question to answer later in the season, but when you've had the year we had last year, of course, you take comfort from that, and with the many.

"When something is unusual, it doesn't mean that it is wrong, and we did it for our own reasons, but of course, you do think: 'Wow, that's not the same.'

"It is an obvious difference, but whether it is the right direction or the wrong direction, who knows?

"We are evaluating everything, absolutely everything, together with what we see on other cars.

"If we see something, we model it, and we try to reproduce it."