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Among all these suppliers, Mécachrome obviously comes to mind, Renault’s historic partner in F1 for engine assembly. Mécachrome has been part of all the adventures: the epic of the turbo until 1985, the victorious epic of the V10 in the 90s, the transition under the “Supertec” era then the revival in 2001 with the return of Renault as a manufacturer , and which has remained an engine manufacturer until today, even when the team had disappeared (in 2010).
A brain drain to be expected
The president of Mécachrome was this Tuesday in Aubigny-sur-Nère, in Cher, where he met the unions. Management notably communicated to the unions the letter sent to them by Renault. The terms are clear and clear with the announcement of the immediate end of the 2026 project: “RE26 shutdown to dateconfirms Stéphane Carré, Force Ouvrière delegate. This means that the employees concerned will have to be reclassified. They will have to do another job. He hasn’t told us about layoffs yet. We will remain very vigilant.”
“It’s a disaster. We do not yet know how Mecachrome management will react, however we will lose great know-how. Particularly for employees at the assembly and test bench level. They are motorsport enthusiasts, they are going to leave” explains Stéphane Carre, FO Mécachrome union representative
A significant impact on turnover
Mécachrome, in charge of assemblies and bench tests, recognizes that the shutdown of the F1 engine will have a strong impact on its turnover (which represents around 14%). The Aubigny-sur-Nère factory certainly works 80% for aeronautics, a sector which is doing well, but the factory has never returned to pre-covid rates. Its workforce has fallen from 550 people to only 418 today. “Fortunately, we are multi-activityanalysis Maxime Sauvé, CFDT representative, but this decision by Renault is a big blow for our factory. It’s one less activity and the reorganization of the workshops will not necessarily be easy to carry out.”
Mécachrome’s activity in motorsport is not limited to Formula 1, since the company also produces V6 Turbo engines intended for Alpine in the WEC as well as the engine blocks which equip F3 and F2 single-seaters, under a contract which this time has nothing to do with Alpine. Created in 1962, the Aubigny-sur-Nère factory has worked for Formula 1 since 1977. However, most of the activity is focused on aeronautics, space and defense. Mecachrome manufactures aircraft engine parts for major aeronautics clients such as Airbus, as well as essential parts for the tanks of the latest Ariane rocket.
Source : FO Mécachrome, Mécachrome (site web)
To summarize
French Formula 1 has just suffered a violent shock. The shutdown of the Renault F1 engine at the end of 2025 will obviously have an impact on all subcontractors, including the historic partner, Mécachrome, which assembles and bench tests the V6 turbo blocks.
