What does the future hold for Renault's Viry-Châtillon engine engineers?
F1. On Tuesday, Alpine announced that it would no longer supply Renault engines, but would switch to Mercedes engines, which are considered more efficient. This decision raises questions about the future of employees at Viry-Châtillon, who were informed of the decision after the CSE meeting.
Renault has made a radical decision under the impulse of its new special advisor, Flavio Briatore: the diamond brand immediately ceases to design and manufacture engines for Formula 1. This choice, motivated by insufficient performance and disappointing reliability of its power units, comes after numerous retirements of Alpine's drivers. As a result, the Enstone-based team is currently negotiating with Mercedes to obtain its engines as early as 2026, potentially even as early as next year.
An earthquake for the Viry-Châtillon technical center
This decision has major repercussions for the Viry-Châtillon factory, which has been the epicenter of Renault engines in Formula 1 since 1977. The end of this activity represents a painful turning point for the brand and French motorsport. If negotiations between Alpine and Mercedes are successful, the Viry-Châtillon factory will have to refocus on new challenges outside of Formula 1.
According to our information, solutions are already being studied to reassign employees located in Viry-Châtillon and offer them positions within the Renault group but outside of F1. Among the options being considered are the development of hydrogen technologies and further research on batteries.
Bruno Famin, the head of the Alpine team, expressed his gratitude to the employees of Viry-Châtillon during the Spanish Grand Prix, emphasizing their constant dedication despite difficult times: "We owe a lot of respect to everyone in Viry working on this project."
Alpine also plans to transform the Viry-Châtillon factory into a state-of-the-art technology center for new energies, which would allow retaining talents within the company. This initiative aims to avoid a significant trauma for employees and fans of the team, while positioning Renault as a key player in sustainable development and ecological transition.
In April 2020, the premises had been completely transformed to be improved and ventilated. The primary objective is to re-oxygenate the current workspaces. Our workshops being what they are, we have so far sacrificed workspaces in order to move around. This new extension will allow our teams to work in better conditions, explained Christian Blum, project manager for the expansion, to Le Parisien.
The risk of losing a talent and engineer
The discontinuation of F1 engine production undeniably marks the end of an era for the French brand and for French motorsport, which will no longer have an engine supplier in F1, as has always been the case since 1977. Even when Renault left the F1 teams, Viry-Châtillon was supplying engines to Red Bull and Toro Rosso.
If the group will have every interest in retaining its employees, engineers with strong potential and knowledge, to allocate them to other projects, it will nevertheless have to contend with the competition of the many other F1 engine manufacturers in the future to want to "steal" these talents.
Red Bull intends to rely on Honda engines to create its own power units with Red Bull Power Trains and has entered into a strategic partnership with Ford. Ford and Red Bull Power Trains will therefore inevitably be interested in Renault's employees.
It will undoubtedly not be the only one. With no experience in Formula 1 powertrains, Audi is heading into the unknown when they make their official debut as a factory team in 2026. While the team will be based on Sauber's chassis expertise, as far as the engine is concerned, everything is still to be done. It is therefore clear that Audi will also be interested in the engineers who are currently developing the power units for 2026.
