Ex-Renault boss says Alpine ’wants to make F1 cheap’

"The axe has fallen" on French-made engines in Formula 1.

That’s the reaction of the country’s biggest and most influential sports publication, L’Equipe, as the Renault Group confirms that operations at Viry-Chatillon will no longer focus on F1 power unit manufacturing.

"Formula 1 activities at Viry, excluding the development of a new engine, will continue until the end of the 2025 season," the Alpine-owning carmaker declared in a statement.

The move is designed not only to save money, but give the struggling Enstone-based Formula 1 team an immediate performance boost by switching to customer Mercedes power.

Strong rumours suggest Alpine will not only buy Mercedes’ power unit, but also the gearbox and rear suspension - like the Aston Martin team at present.

Staff at Viry, however, are furious, even though they have all been promised jobs at the re-jigged operations at Viry, dubbed ’Hypertech Alpine’.

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur told L’Equipe that his "mailbox is overflowing with CVs from France".

"The axe has fallen," L’Equipe correspondent Erik Bielderman dramatically declared.

Former Renault F1 engine chief Denis Chevrier told the sports daily: "Alpine wants to make F1 cheap. That’s what they’ve always wanted to do.

"That’s why they didn’t succeed in the transition to hybrid engines, unlike their competitors. It’s the unfortunate demonstration that if you don’t want to put in the resources, then after a while you can’t live on the past and the ship loses its speed, little by little.

"No doubt this engine is not the best on the grid," he added, "but the decision that was taken is the opposite of that which a boss who aims for excellence with his company should take."

Another former senior Renault F1 figure, Bruno Mauduit, added: "It has disintegrated over time. When I left there two years ago, I told them as I left ’you broke the toy’.

"Today, we have no argument to continue. What has been done in recent years is not enough, and everyone is at fault. I wasn’t very happy one or two years ago, but now it’s agony. We have to stop the bleeding."

Current Alpine driver, Esteban Ocon, is fleeing to Haas for 2025, but even Pierre Gasly, who has signed on to stay, is distraught about the current performance situation at the team.

"Basically, the problem is that we’re just too slow," he said after the Singapore GP. "It means you end up trying things that are ... well. In the end, I was losing four seconds per lap.

"I don’t really have the words because these are things that we have to see about internally, but the basic problem is that we’re just way too slow."