From the start of the 2026 season, Alpine will be powered in F1 by Mercedes, effectively abandoning its manufacturer status. A heresy for many F1 fans, French or not. But according to former F1 driver Giedo Van der Garde, Alpine made the right choice.
Renault bids farewell to F1 and stops engine production at Viry-Châtillon at the very end of 2025. From the following season, the blue single-seaters will be equipped with the Mercedes engine, Alpine will therefore become a customer team, at the same time title as Williams or McLaren.
Giedo Van der Garde knows the Viry-Châtillon factory well since he raced in F1 with a Renault engine during his time with Caterham in 2013. However, the former driver believes that Alpine was right to turn towards the Mercedes engine.
“For me, I think it's the right choice ”, explained Van der Garde on the F1 Nation podcast. “Mercedes has always been up to the task. Remember, from V8 to V6, the first two years it was incredibly strong. It was a different category, in my opinion.”
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“They have competent people, they know how to build an engine, they have good knowledge. So I think for Alpine it’s the right way to go with Mercedes – and I’m sure they’ll be there.”
“And I'm sure on the other hand, they were already hoping to have this engine for next year, because the Renault or Alpine engine is always struggling on the track. In qualifying it’s okay, but in the race they have to set the engine too low, and they lose a lot of performance.”
“If you see this chassis, it's a strong car in the corners, but in a straight line you see all the time that they lose a little too much – but I think it's a big boost for the team that they changed the engines for 2026.”
Viry bids farewell to F1
Viry-Châtillon will therefore see F1 disappear in 2025, replaced by the relentless efficiency of Mercedes engines. The group and the Alpine team had to make savings and had to sacrifice an important but costly part of the organization.
“I’ve been there, it’s incredible”he said. “At the time, I have to say, I think it was a very powerful engine. I mean they won with Red Bull. Caterham's car wasn't very good at the time, [j’ai] had a lot of trouble with this car – although I learned a lot from it.”
“If you see the factory, the people who work there, it’s something very important. They must move forward. They need to save money, they need to consider other things. I think it’s the right choice for Alpine to move to Mercedes”concluded the former pilot.
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