Alpine Aims for Quick Driver Decision Amid Da Costa Link

Alpine sporting director Nicolas Lapierre says the French brand is hoping to make a decision on its 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship driver lineup “as soon as possible” as it closes on signing Antonio Felix da Costa.

As the WEC driver market heats up ahead of this weekend’s Lone Star Le Mans at the Circuit of The Americas, multiple French outlets have reported that da Costa is poised to join the Renault-owned marque for the 2026 campaign.

Without going into specifics, Lapierre admitted that Alpine is aiming to nail down its lineup as quickly as possible with some changes to its roster highly likely.

“Probably there will be some changes to the lineup, but it’s too early to speak about it,” Lapierre told Sportscar365. “We hope to make a decision as soon as possible.

“The driver market is moving a lot, there is a lot going on with new manufacturers coming. There is a lot of movement; this is normal. We have good options in our hands and I hope we will have a competitive lineup next year.”

Alpine shook up its driver lineup this year with the addition of Frederic Makowiecki and Jules Gounon, as Lapierre stepped away from driving duties and into his current sporting director role and Matthieu Vaxiviere was made reserve driver.

However, Mick Schumacher’s future at Alpine has been subject of speculation, with the German having been linked to the vacancy at Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA that has opened up with Jenson Button’s decision to step down from his full-time seat.

Schumacher now appears to be out of the running to replace Button, with Alpine understood to be keen to retain the German but facing a battle to do so.

Regardless of Schumacher’s future, Sportscar365 understands Paul-Loup Chatin has communicated his intention to leave Alpine, creating at least one vacancy.

“We are happy with the current lineup, with the mix we have, but there will be some movement and we have to be prepared for this,” added Lapierre.

“We have to prepare for the future. There will be some change.”

Da Costa’s future had been unclear for some time owing to his status as a Porsche Formula E driver, but the Portuguese driver is understood to have parted ways with the Weissach marque, which may be communicated as early as next week.

He has consistently expressed a desire to return to the WEC alongside his Formula E commitments, as he is reportedly set to continue in the all-electric series with Jaguar.

Da Costa had been thought of as a leading candidate to join Cadillac owing to his past relationship with JOTA, and was also linked to being part of the new-for-2026 Genesis LMDh project before it emerged that he was in the frame to join Alpine.

Asked for an update on his 2026 plans, da Costa told Sportscar365: “All I can say is that I’m working hard in getting back to WEC full-time in Hypercar.

“A few pieces of the puzzle need to come together, but it’s looking good, so let’s see.”

Besides da Costa, one other driver who has been linked to joining Alpine is Victor Martins, who drove the team’s A424 LMDh in last year’s rookie test in Bahrain.

Martins was part of Alpine’s F1 driver academy but became a Williams junior for the current season, and is currently racing in FIA Formula 2 for ART Grand Prix.