Alpine was nine points behind Racing Bulls. Six weekends later, the gap is 45. A teammate collision and penalties for yellow-flag mistakes cost valuable points as Alpine scored just one to its rival’s 37.
Alpine left September’s Spanish Grand Prix with 68 points, just nine behind Racing Bulls in the Constructors’ Championship. After Brazil, Alpine has 69. Racing Bulls has 114.
Six race weekends brought Alpine only one point, courtesy of Pierre Gasly’s tenth place in Austin. Racing Bulls scored at every round in that stretch, collecting 37 points and turning a narrow advantage into a substantial cushion.
The results explain how Alpine fell away. Alongside weekends outside the top 10, there were opportunities lost through a collision and penalties.
Where the points disappeared
The run began in Azerbaijan, where Alpine had both cars in the points before a Safety Car restart went wrong. Franco Colapinto locked up and hit Gasly, triggering a collision that also eliminated Lando Norris.
As we examined in our Baku verdict, Alpine lost a potential double-points finish in one incident. Racing Bulls left with six points.
Alpine then scored nothing at Sepang or Singapore. Gasly’s Austin result briefly interrupted the drought, but Mexico brought another costly setback.
Colapinto finished eighth on the road and Gasly tenth, positions worth five points between them. Separate penalties for failing to slow sufficiently under yellow flags dropped both outside the scoring places.
Those points would not have erased Racing Bulls’ advantage. Losing them nevertheless made an already difficult chase harder.
Brazil offered no recovery
Our Interlagos preview highlighted Alpine’s strong history at the circuit and the opportunity to recover from Mexico.
Instead, Colapinto finished 13th and Gasly 14th. Another scoreless race left Alpine’s total unchanged while Racing Bulls added six more points.
Across those six weekends, Racing Bulls scored six points in Azerbaijan, seven at Sepang, ten in Singapore, two in Austin, six in Mexico and six in Brazil. Those totals include Sprint points.
Alpine’s only contribution was Gasly’s single point in Austin. The other five weekends produced nothing.
That 37–1 difference stretched Racing Bulls’ advantage from nine points to 45.
Racing Bulls kept collecting
Racing Bulls did not need one extraordinary result to pull clear. Its six-weekend haul came through repeated scoring, with even Austin’s two points extending its advantage.
The team has now confirmed Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad for 2027, preserving its driver lineup as it works to secure fifth.
With three Grands Prix remaining, fifth is still mathematically open. But Alpine now faces a 45-point deficit, five times the gap it was chasing after Spain.
Baku and Mexico show that Alpine had chances to score more than one point. Racing Bulls’ results show the cost of failing to take them.
