Alpine and Renault stop engine development for F1 2026

News that will delight French team fans, probably less so Renault employees. Alpine, plagued by multiple reliability issues this year, decided this Tuesday to stop the production of Renault engines in favor of those from Mercedes. The announcement of the technical partnership between the two teams should be formalized soon, probably as early as this weekend in Spa. It has already been communicated to employees during the social and economic committee according to information from L’Equipe.

Long-drawn-out negotiations

This agreement was reached after many weeks of negotiations. In mid-June, Alpine had mentioned the possibility of abandoning the Renault engine, deemed insufficiently powerful to compete with other manufacturers. Following this announcement, discussions between the French team and Mercedes intensified.

At the British Grand Prix, Toto Wolff, the head of the German team, had mentioned the possibility of an agreement if Alpine gave up the Renault engine, which it has now done.

« You know, I think it’s a complicated situation because we like the idea of replacing Aston Martin with another team because of the learning curve it brings. I think our organization is such that the more power units there are, the better it is in terms of speeding up certain developments or reliability. So that’s where we stand ».

Today, negotiations are more advanced than ever and may have even concluded, according to several media reports. This success is largely due to the work of the team’s new special advisor, Flavio Briatore, who pushed for this agreement and was even seen in the Mercedes motorhome during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Briatore hopes to make the team more attractive to some drivers, notably Carlos Sainz, who has not yet decided on his future and could be tempted to join the Alpine project with a Mercedes engine.

A Consensus Between Advantages and Disadvantages

For Alpine, this partnership offers the prospect of a more powerful engine than the current one, which represents a competitiveness boost for the whole team. By turning to Mercedes, Alpine also demonstrates its ambitions for 2026, the star manufacturer being known for preparing well for new engine regulations, as was the case in 2014 with the introduction of hybrid engines.

Moreover, the economic benefits are significant. This agreement will cost Alpine 17 million euros per year, compared to 100 million if it decided to stay with the Renault power unit, which also offers less performance guarantees than the Mercedes one.

However, this decision represents a severe blow to the engine department of Viry-Châtillon. While they were working on designing engines for 2026, Alpine engineers were asked to immediately stop their work. Although the French team tried to reassure everyone, some staff members may decide to leave their positions due to this change, causing a new upheaval in the team.

The question now remains whether Mercedes will be able to supply its engine to Alpine from 2025. According to Appendix 6 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, if Renault decides to withdraw at the end of the year, there will be only three engine manufacturers left, allowing each to equip up to five teams. This would favor a closer relationship with Mercedes, which currently has three customers (Aston Martin, McLaren, Williams).

In the other scenario, if Renault were to withdraw, the maximum number of teams that an engine supplier could supply would be four. However, since Aston Martin will be equipped with Honda engines from 2026, the door will be open for Alpine to have Mercedes engines.

This change marks a crucial step for Alpine, which is seeking to reposition itself and strengthen its competitiveness on the starting grid. With the integration of the Mercedes engine, Alpine aims to overcome its reliability issues and prepare optimally for future challenges in Formula 1.