Oakes says Mercedes was obvious choice for Alpine in F1 2026

Oliver Oakes says it was obvious for Alpine to go for Mercedes from F1 2026 onward, as Toto Wolff speaks on how the new power unit is coming along.

One of the big decisions that the Renault Group took in 2024 was ending its power unit programme from 2026 F1 season onward and moving the Alpine outfit from being a works team to a customer one. The decision didn’t come easy as it faced resistance from its own employees.

However, it was all in vain as the decision was made to end the programme, which hasn’t been fruitful for them in years. Alpine picked Mercedes as its power unit supplier from 2026 onward. The German manufacturer is to lose Aston Martin to Honda, and gain the French manufacturer as its customer.

For team principal Oakes, it was a no-brainer to opt for Mercedes. “I think it’s quite obvious,” he said. “I think, first, this era of regulations, they’ve been the benchmark. Also, it’s quite clear to see customer teams using that power unit are competitive at the front of the field. And I think also for us as a team, it’s an obvious chance for us to benchmark ourselves as well.”

Certainly, Mercedes has proven its worth after multiple championships, especially to start the hybrid era. It did lose out to Honda for few seasons, but regained glory via McLaren in 2024. The new power unit is coming along well as per chief Wolff, who also notes that they are pushing on certain aspects.

“Certain expectations we’re meeting, that’s good,” said Wolff. “Others, we’re still pushing to achieve our targets. It’s not trivial. But then the question is, have you set your expectations in the right way? So the answer is, we don’t know where we are.”

Here’s Pierre Gasly on Alpine’s new structure

Here’s Oliver Oakes on Paul Aron, Victor Martins

Here’s Alpine signing Franco Colapinto

Here’s Alpine securing Ryo Hirakawa

Here’s Alpine on F1 2026, Castore deal

Here’s Toto Wolff backing Mohammed Ben Sulayem

Here’s Mercedes and adidas deal

Here’s Toto Wolff on managing expectations in F1 2025

Here’s Toto Wolff on fine if losing out to customer team

Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact