Back in the land of Stars & Stripes

Round 19 of the FIA Formula One World Championship took place in the Texan city of Austin and is considered one of the most popular weekends on the calendar. In the build-up to the United States Grand Prix, BWT Alpine Formula One Team unveiled a striking new livery. In partnership with Mercado Libre, the A525 sported a vibrant flash of yellow on its engine cover and rear wing, along with a special helmet design for Franco, who serves as the brand’s on-track ambassador. The Mercado Libre livery will remain on the car for the upcoming races in the Americas - in Mexico City and São Paulo, Brazil.

Also featured on the car at the Circuit of the Americas was a special logo displayed alongside our Team Partner Arctic Wolf. Helen’s Pink Sky Foundation has been created to fund pioneering gene therapy research into Batten Disease - a rare and fatal genetic disorder. To raise awareness for this vital cause, members of the team wore pink bracelets throughout the weekend, alongside the feature on the A525.

On the eve of the Austin race, we also revealed that Cato Networks has been named our Official SASE Partner for the 2026 season, with the brand set to feature on next year’s car.

Taking a trip downtown

Before the race weekend, one of our top Drive & Seek suggestions was to head to South Congress in downtown Austin - famous for its traditional Texan barbecue, lively atmosphere and boutique shops. It was a chance for members of our team to sample the local flavours before checking out rows of cowboy boots and Stetson hats on sale.

The next morning, Pierre turned heads by arriving in his own cowboy-inspired outfit - a brown suede fringed jacket - perfectly complementing the resident rodeo bull set up in the paddock.

Meanwhile, Franco opted for a more contemporary look, wearing a pair of our limited-edition Endstate x Staple sneakers to the FIA Drivers’ Press Conference on Thursday afternoon. Click here to purchase your shoes today, with only 150 pairs available worldwide.

Dialling up the action

A Sprint weekend means every second counts, as the single one-hour practice session leaves little time to set up the car for competitive action. Both drivers completed a long run on the hard tyre in FP1 - despite a brief red flag stoppage - before switching to softs for low fuel running right at the end of the session.

That preparation paid dividends for Pierre, who progressed to SQ2 in Sprint Qualifying later that afternoon, recording a time good enough for 13th on the grid. In contrast, Franco had more limitations in the car and felt a lack of grip. Although the weather was hot and sunny, the wind picked up later in the day, making track conditions more unpredictable and Franco completed the 17th-fastest time for the Sprint.

Getting into the core of the weekend

The Circuit of the Americas has hosted 13 F1 races since joining the calendar in 2012 and has become one of the most popular stops on the schedule. There was good news for the American fanbase over the weekend: F1 will continue to race in Austin through to 2034, while Apple TV confirmed it will be taking over the rights to broadcast the sport in the U.S. for the next five years.

Another sell-out crowd packed into the Texan venue last weekend, and there was plenty of support for both Pierre and Franco during our visit to the Fan Forum in the hours before the Sprint race began. The duo played a quick game of pickleball in front of the delighted fans.

But soon after, our focus turned to the Sprint itself - and the anticipation of a race in which anything can happen in the first few moments off the line…

As the pack raced up the hill into Turn 1, the unexpected did happen, as a multi-car incident resulted in the retirement of both McLarens, a Sauber and an Aston Martin. In his best attempt to avoid the chaos, Franco was caught from behind and was unfortunate to pick up a left-rear puncture that required him to pit at the end of the lap.

In contrast, the mayhem allowed Pierre to pick up four places before the Safety Car was deployed. Nine of the 19 laps were held under caution and Pierre finished in tenth place, just outside the points.

Both cars advance to Q2

No sooner had the chequered flag flown, it was back down to business to prepare both cars for qualifying for the main event. We decided to send both cars out early in an attempt to complete three runs in Q1, which was impacted by a red flag.

However, Pierre delivered an excellent time on his final run to move out of the bottom five and Franco then capitalised on a lap-time deletion ahead of him to avoid elimination - the first time both cars have progressed to Q2 since Austria in July. But as the wind picked up, both drivers suffered quick snaps of oversteer coming out of the newly named Andretti corner in the next session and lined up P14 and P15 respectively.

Putting on a show for the fans

It’s typical for the Drivers’ Parade to be a little more unusual at the American races. In contrast to the full-sized LEGO cars in Miami, Austin provided us with giant monster trucks, which gave our drivers a much more elevated view of the track than they are used to…

At the start of the Grand Prix itself, Turn 1 was incident-free and the field managed to negotiate the first couple of corners without drama. After dropping a couple of places at the start, Franco was quickly up to speed and making up for lost positions. Both drivers started on the medium tyre and, while the original thought was that switching to the hard would be the optimum strategy, it turned out that extending the stint and changing to the softs late on was the better approach.

Pierre pitted for used softs on lap 27 and dropped into traffic, while Franco stayed out another five laps before stopping. That gave him a tyre advantage over his team-mate in the closing stages. But with both cars managing fuel rates and the possibility of being lapped, the pit wall chose to manage their positions. On the penultimate lap, Franco passed Pierre into Turn 1 to finish 17th, while Pierre slipped to 19th.

Managing Director Steve Nielsen:

“We had to adapt our strategy based on the conditions and what we saw on track, with the hard tyre not looking to be a favourable race tyre. We gave the instruction for the drivers to maintain position as we were managing fuel with both cars. We are disappointed that this didn’t happen, so it’s something we will review and deal with internally.”

With no time to dwell, it’s straight on to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the next leg of the North American tour and next weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

Photo Credit: TWJB Photography