Alpine unveils the revamped A424 for its 2026 WEC campaign

Alpine raised the curtain in Paris on its third and final season in the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar category. The team unveiled the 2026 version of the A424, an LMDh prototype arriving with aerodynamic updates and two new names in its driver lineups: António Félix da Costa and Victor Martins.

Two cars with distinct profiles

Hypercar #35 will bring together Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg, both present since the program's start in 2024, with Félix da Costa, the 2020 Formula E world champion and one of the most experienced prototype drivers on the current grid. The Portuguese driver has competed in LMP2 and has direct experience with the endurance racing format, which should accelerate his adaptation to the team.

Photo By Alpine

In #36, Jules Gounon and Frédéric Makowiecki will form an all-French crew alongside Victor Martins, who arrives from single-seaters as the 2020 Formula Renault Eurocup champion. Martins had his first contact with the A424 during the WEC rookie test in 2024, but his real preparation began in early February at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, where he ran alongside Habsburg and Makowiecki during a test session that accumulated 1,250 kilometers.

The A424 arrives with aerodynamic changes

Those three days in Portimão served more than just integrating Martins. The team debuted the aerodynamic updates for the A424 and the new Michelin Pilot Sport Endurance 2026 tires, two variables that needed evaluation kilometers before defining the setup for the start of the season. Conditions were ideal, with a dry track throughout the session and even night runs that allowed simulating the demands of long races.

Philippe Sinault, team principal, rated the data as positive and confirmed that the next session will be at MotorLand Aragón, before the official WEC Prologue at the Losail International Circuit on March 22nd and 23rd.

Photo By Alpine

Renault has already decided the end

The presentation at the Atelier Alpine in Paris had an inevitable tone of finality. Renault confirmed weeks ago that Alpine will leave the WEC at the end of 2026, as part of a corporate plan that also includes Dacia's exit from rally-raids and the cessation of in-house engine development at Viry-Châtillon.

In five seasons with the A424, Alpine has accumulated a single victory, achieved in the WEC's 100th race at Fuji 2025, and a sixth place in the constructors' standings with 86 points, leaving them 159 points behind champion Ferrari. The podiums at Imola and Spa-Francorchamps last season were the high points of a program that always operated with less budget and infrastructure than the rest of the Hypercar teams.

Eight races to close the chapter

The season begins on March 28th in Qatar and will follow an eight-round calendar: Imola (April 19th), Spa-Francorchamps (May 9th), the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 13-14), Interlagos (July 12th), Circuit of the Americas (September 6th), Fuji (September 27th), and the 8-hour finale in Bahrain on November 7th.

With Félix da Costa in the #35, an updated aerodynamic package, and the data from Portimão as a foundation, Alpine has arguments to fight for podiums in several of these events, although the constructors' title seems out of reach against Toyota and Ferrari, who remain the benchmarks of the grid.