Alpine has put down rumours about the F1 team being put on sale after dismal start, as he adds more on updates plus drivers and 2026.
Amid the difficult start to its 2024 F1 campaign, it has spilled out rumours about Renault selling Alpine and being in advanced talks about it. The speculations, though, has been put down by team boss Bruno Famin when speaking to Formula 1 official website.
He insists that the team is not for sale while adding that they are certainly not too pleased with how their 2024 season has kicked-off. Over the last few years, the team has lost several of its key members, which includes handful at the start of this year.
Famin was promoted to the team principal role last year and is leading the ship alongside other new appointments. Interestingly, the focus will be 2026 when the new regulations kick-in, but they aren’t to stop the current development for 2024 and 2025.
While they don’t say it but they will aim for to be in the midfield at least. They are down on engine performance which they will like to overcome in 2026, and amid that the driver question also looms with both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly up for grabs.
For now, Famin is not too worried about his drivers while also having the likes of Jack Doohan and Victor Martins at his disposal. The driver discussion is secondary to Alpine amid the push to find performance in the coming few months.
No sale –
Famin: “We have a real project with Alpine. We have the project to develop the Alpine brand awareness globally through motorsport and Formula 1 in particular. We have the full support of the top management. The team is absolutely not for sale. We will keep pushing to reach our goals.”
Bad performance leading to rumours, history –
Famin: “It’s not a fun period. We are not where we want to be in terms of performance, we are not doing the project to be P15 or P16. We want to be ahead, we want to develop the performance of the car – and we want to fight for podiums and for victories as soon as possible. Everybody [on the board] understands it is not an easy challenge. It’s a very difficult challenge – we owe a lot of respect to our competitors. To fight ahead, we have to raise the bar, raise our level, we need to improve.
“In the history our team, previously branded Renault – at the start of the project in the 1970s, everyone was laughing at us – and we were strong in those moments. We want to use those difficult moments now. We know everyone has ups and downs. We are in a down – but we will use the opportunity to be stronger very soon and for sure make the necessary changes within the team to reach our goals. The car we have now is the result of previous management. But what is important is what we are doing now. And I’m happy with what we are doing. Of course the way is very long, and we have a lot to improve.”
Engine situation –
Famin: “Viry has been working for quite a long time now on the new engine regulations. The good news is that we are on track. We are quite happy with what we’re doing. The level is quite ambitious. For the time being, we’re on track but you never know what your competitors are doing.”
Bad results leading to driver questions –
Famin: “We are happy with our drivers, and our drivers are happy with us. We are talking to them regularly. Let’s see what we can do in the future. There are ups and down, we are in a down but we have a strong project with a long term vision. We have a good strength for the 2026 project – we are a manufacturer, we are developing the PU – which is on track, we can optimise everything. We have a project which doesn’t need to convince them. I would like to use this opportunity to thank them. We are in a difficult position. It is not the start of the season we wanted and I appreciate how constructive they are with the team, not only in communications with journalists but also internally.
“When trying to find solutions with the car, both of them are very helpful. We are also looking at the market and we also have our academy where we are developing talents for tomorrow or the future. We have Jack Doohan who is our reserve, Victor Martins in F2. We have a wide scope of possibility. We are happy with Esteban, happy with Pierre – but we are ready to react in case something happens. That’s it. We are not in a rush right now to be frank. We have other problems to solve, other things to improve, and we are not in a rush. We are ready, we are prepared but we are not in rush.”
2026 aim –
Famin: “We want to be back on the first part of the grid for sure, to improve significantly our position. We know the major change in regulations is an opportunity to change the game. We want to seize that opportunity. That’s the goal. We want to make a significant step and find consistency, not to be one year fifth, one year seventh, one year sixth. Let’s get much closer to the biggest teams.”
Here’s Pierre Gasly on clash with Esteban Ocon in Japan
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
