F1 team bosses – some of them – discuss the potential decision of Alpine to not use Renault power units and opt to become a customer outfit.
Amid the down run that Renault/Alpine is facing in F1, rumours about potential switch to being a customer team started to float in recent months. Although it has been denied by team principal Bruno Famin, but unofficially it has gathered momentum.
One such confirmation seemingly came from Mercedes when Toto Wolff was asked if they will be ready to supply power units to Alpine in future. The German manufacturer will lose Aston Martin to Honda from 2026 onward and they will be more than happy to provide.
Alpine does have options around with the likes of Ferrari, Audi and Red Bull-Ford in the game, but it all depends on what the management decides. The discussions of them ditching their engine programme comes amid struggles to match their rivals.
While Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda have managed to move ahead, Renault hasn’t had the same type of growth ever since the hybrid system was adopted. With the struggles to handle both the chassis and power unit side, it seems like ditching one may work.
As of now, its rivals are fine with the idea of supplying as it opens up another customer option, but it all depends on Alpine’s ultimate goals considering it becomes difficult to win F1 championships as customers and that they will let go of their factory status.
Toto Wolff: “I think that’s a complicated situation because we like the thought of, you know, replacing Aston Martin with another team because of the sheer learning you’re doing. I think we’re set up as an organisation that the more power units, the better it is in terms of accelerating some of the developments or the reliability. So this is where it is. I think it didn’t go beyond the point of exchanging opinions or having like, you know, exploratory discussions. I think Alpine would take a decision, do they want to continue with their Formula 1 engine programme or not? And only when they have taken that strategic decision, we would dive into our agreements. But we’re open-minded, and that’s what we have told them. As for a decision, no, that’s [summer break] far too complicated and long-lasting, impactful decision for Alpine to make.”
Zak Brown: “Yeah, from our standpoint, what’s good for HPP is good for McLaren as far as we’re concerned. They’ve been an awesome partner to work with. So if it adds value to their power unit proposition, then we’re all for it. And as far as decision timeframe, I think the sooner you can make a decision on any decision that you make is just better time for preparations. I would imagine they’ll probably want to make a decision before the summer break to give them as much lead time to learn about the power unit and ways of working.”
James Vowles: “I think Zak and Toto said it eloquently. The more power you have in circulation, the more learning you have. There’s no doubt about that in the current season. But I think it’s also fair to say I’m not sure where McLaren and Mercedes are. But from our perspective, we have been working alongside HPP in order to get the concept right for ‘26 already for many, many months. And so whatever you do, you’re going to be six to 12 months behind the three other teams. That’s quite penalising in the grand scheme of things. It doesn’t mean it’s unachievable, but there’s going to be areas where you’re going to be compromising on. There’s a tremendous amount of work getting ‘26 right. And the smallest decision on layout can actually have quite a large impact.”
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