Renault still committed to F1 after axing Alpine engine programme

The Renault Group remains committed to Formula 1 through its Alpine team and sees it as a powerful marking tool for its road car efforts.

Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo said the sport is a “boom box” for amplifying Alpine and was something the company could be built around, giving it “credibility to enthusiasts”.

“F1 says something about your capabilities,” he added.

Alpine CEO Philippe Krief said the firm lost money with its F1 team in pure financial terms yet agreed with de Meo that it’s “an investment” as it’s “important to promote the brand”; it “needed F1 and motorsport, as it’s part of our DNA”.

De Meo said the team was now in a better shape under the leadership of new executive advisor Flavio Briatore and new team principal Oliver Oakes.

“We had a bad start this year, then brought back Flavio. We also added Oli, a younger guy, at 36, who I think is going to be one of the great guys of F1. They’re taking a certain direction now.”

De Meo also said that switching to a customer supply of Mercedes-AMG engines rather than building its own would save the Renault Group around £230 million per year, with minimal lap time penalty.

“We have stopped development of the new 2026 engines,” he explained. “In the current rules of F1, you can take a top engine for less than £20m per year; for me, it was costing more than £250m per year.

“We decided to concentrate on other things like the chassis, the aero, the team itself.”