The announcement was expected, feared. The press release was intended to be as discreet as possible, with barely a few lines and no statement from senior executives. On November 12, Alpine sealed a multi-year agreement with Mercedes for the engine of its Formula 1 cars from 2026. A shock decision motivated by financial and performance issues. With its factory team, Renault wants to win but also control its costs. What doesn't make a difference is outsourced. The engine and gearbox are considered in this way, and the recent McLaren case proves the strategy deployed to be right for the moment.
“Until 2025 inclusive, the engine ceiling is 95 million dollars, then it will be 135 million from 2026”explains Bruno Famin to AutoHebdo. “It's far too high. We would have to develop at full speed over a cycle of 4 to 5 years, which represents around a billion dollars of investment. Spending half as much money as our competitors while thinking of being twice as smart no longer exists. On the other hand, the regulations limit the rental of engines to 17 million dollars per year. This is a huge difference, especially when we only talk about engines when things are bad.
Renault has indeed suffered from bad press during the hybrid era. A failed regulatory shift in 2014 due to underinvestment compared to its rivals and in particular Mercedes. If the Losange has gleaned a few victories and symbolic coronations of Vice-World Champion, the record is very meager unlike its engine competitors, and its history includes many titles. Returning with its factory team in 2016, the Boulogne-Billancourt firm had great difficulty breaking out of the peloton, until it experienced a nightmarish start to 2024, pushing for radical decisions.
Under the leadership of Luca de Meo, the Renault Group has renewed the management of the team several times, and a few months ago appointed the whimsical Flavio Briatore. If many associate the Italian with the Crashgate scandal of 2008, it is also with him that the Losange gleaned 6 of its 23 World Champion titles. His strong personality, his sense of racing and marketing pushed Luca de Meo to trust him and give him this difficult mission to turn around Alpine.
“I had a conversation with Luca de Meo”Flavio Briatore tells Auto Motor Und Sport. “I've known him for ages. I told him it was sad to see a former world champion team in this state. At first, the idea was to help a little. I was hesitant because a lot of things have changed in Formula 1. We talked about the last years of Alpine in a very non-committal way, […]the faults lay in the management. That's when I told Luca: if I have full responsibility, I will do it. “
From the moment he arrived, Flavio Briatore showed himself to be true to himself. A very dynamic showman not afraid to make big decisions. Two stand out: the appointment of a very young (but promising) Team Manager – Oliver Oakes – firstly, then the cessation of the design of an in-house engine to turn to customer blocks. An approach completely opposed to Renault's DNA in Formula 1, also putting hundreds of jobs at a standstill in Viry-Châtillon. The Italian, however, strongly defends himself, with his famous frankness, even if it means offending. He firmly believes in the relevance of a Mercedes unit from 2026.
“The French want to win”recalls Flavio Briatore, again for Auto Motor Und Sport. “We don't win with our engine. It's that simple. If we want to win, we have to abandon the areas in which we are not competitive. It's one less problem we have to worry about at the future. Let's focus on the car. McLaren becomes world champion with a Mercedes engine. How many times have you read or heard about McLaren-Mercedes becoming world champion?
“With Luca, I now have the opportunity to do everything we want to do in the next three to five years. The first step was to get rid of our own engine. That means we are saying goodbye to something which only costs us money but gives us nothing Mercedes will provide us with the best engine and gearbox on the market in 2026. If you want to win, 80-90% of your components must be the best. don't need disability, […]and the gearbox? It can't make you win races, it can only make you lose them. “
Alpine therefore chooses to forget its status as a manufacturer to become a client structure. A questionable choice in light of the strategies deployed by Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi and now Cadillac. Furthermore, the decision to abandon its own engine also goes against other approaches taken by Honda and Ford, which are orchestrating an official program around the power unit. However, two teams have shown that a customer role can work: Aston Martin and McLaren.
In 2023, the first city played at the front of the peloton and achieved multiple podiums. The second has quite simply been crowned World Constructors' Champion, ahead of the official Mercedes team. The regulatory obligation to provide the same engine and the budgetary cap setting the cost of the customer engine at €17M clearly push managers to ask themselves the question of investing in costly and uncertain development, or of relying on a proven external solution. .
“It is certain that we need a very competitive power unit but the difference compared to the teams which had the same power unit lies in the quality of the work carried out on the chassis”estimates Andreas Stella, the Team Manager of McLaren, also powered by Mercedes, at The-Race.com. “This belief that you have to be a factory team, for me, is more of an excuse than a technical fact. Over the years, the FIA has put in place more and more controls and regulations according to which the use of the power unit must be the same for all teams that use the same power unit so I am absolutely convinced that the power unit delivery at McLaren is the same as at Mercedes GP.
“Where the factory team keeps [toujours] an advantage is that she has a little more knowledge about engine integration”adds Zak Brown, the CEO of the Woking training course. “When she goes into designing her race car, she'll be a little bit ahead of the pack on the integration and design of her car. But I think we've proven this year that if you do a great job, you can overcome this.”
The McLaren case necessarily inspires Flavio Briatore, determined to repeat the feat of the British team. This hope is spread within Enstone, the chassis entity of Alpine, majority owned by the Renault Group. If this department could tend to blame its poor performance on the engine and vice versa, tomorrow it will no longer be possible to do so. With the Mercedes block, the A arrow will be compared directly to the German factory team, McLaren and Williams. No excuses will be possible.
“I want to be at the front of the grid, I don’t want to be at the back”explique Oliver Oakes. “And cruelly, the choice we made was to get the best engine in the back of the car and help the team continue to move up the hierarchy. The main thing, really, is that it gives us also gives us the ability to compare ourselves Currently, we are not producing a perfect chassis or a perfect engine, and we are very honest and humble about that. So, from my point of view, it also allows us, I would say, to. look ourselves in the mirror and work hard on the side chassis, which is a challenge we should enjoy.”
Flavio Briatore gave Luca de Meo a road map. Alpine will still have to contend with the peloton in 2025, aiming to do as well in the constructors' standings as in 2024 – sixth. The reason is simple, with new regulations and the arrival of the Mercedes engine for 2026, resources are focused on this project. On this occasion, podiums and victories will be on the agenda, while the title will be targeted from the following campaign, in 2027.
“In 2025 we will have to make up for the three tenths we are missing by designing a better car”explains Flavio Briatore in the columns of Gazzetta dello Sport. “We shouldn't worry because we know that's how it is and we will have to try to do well by designing better aerodynamics and studying the tires. Without feeling sorry for ourselves.”
“Alpine must still be among the top 6 next year”he adds on behalf of Auto Motor Und Sport. “Maybe a podium every now and then. We need to improve our car to achieve that. It should be possible. Aerodynamically we have a lot more margin than Ferrari or McLaren. In 2026 we want to be on the podium in 50%. of all races. Then you automatically win one or two races. In 2027 we have to be in a position to fight for the title.
Alpine's other objective, less publicized, is to increase the valuation of the team and its financial income. By removing the engine part, the arrowed A can display a much better economic equation. For 2023, despite a disappointing ranking in the constructors' championship – already sixth – the team recorded a net profit of €9.8 million after tax, compared to €31.6 million in 2022 with fourth final position. Without developing its power unit, Formula 1 is therefore profitable. This is explained by the contribution, among other things, of sports bonuses, income from TV rights and even sponsorship.
In this regard, the specialized press, led by Joe Saward, are talking about the extension of the lucrative partnership with BWT, the title partner. The company attaches its name to the team, and is the originator of the pink color on the Alpine. This should continue for several more years. This flourishing financial health also justifies Renault's commitment to Formula 1. It is certainly not a question of selling, as some like to assert. Flavio Briatore is also very firm on the issue.
“I don’t understand these speculations.”he gets impatient, still on behalf of Auto Motor Und Sport. “Since I joined Renault, the same questions have always been asked. When we won the world championship title in 2005 and 2006, I was asked if Renault wanted to stay in Formula 1. The truth is that I I've always gotten what I needed for the job from Renault. They appreciate that I'm careful with their money. That's why I now save money everywhere. don't make my car anymore fast. I don't think about what I'll do in five, ten or twenty years, I decide what's important now.
This context therefore leads to the regrettable disappearance of the Renault engine in Formula 1. A final last stand in 2025 and the story will end. There is no question of transferring the intellectual property of the 2026 project to a competitor, even Andretti/Cadillac. The latter will first engage with a Ferrari block before rolling with its own engine in 2028. The latter will not have any element from Viry-Châtillon.
“No, we will not sell our intellectual property because Viry’s know-how is its capital”comments Bruno Famin. “We want to keep our value for our future project. We are not parting with it. Moreover, we are not going to help our competitors to beat us – that makes no sense. So no – it is completely out of the question to sell this intellectual property.
We will therefore have to hope for a radical change in strategy and probably more relevant technical and financial regulations to hope one day to see a Renault engine find a starting grid for a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Probably not before 2030. Until then , there is one season left and then an Alpine-Mercedes adventure to build. Without the slightest excuse now, and certainly without the same passion. A winning bet? Only the future will tell…
