Bruno Famin has announced his resignation as Alpine’s team principal and alluded to the conclusion of the power unit project at Viry.
While announcing his own resignation from Alpine, Bruno Famin has hinted that Renault will stop producing its F1 power unit starting in 2026.
Since McLaren rejoined Mercedes for 2021, Renault has only been supplying power units to its in-house Alpine team. The French company has struggled to deliver a reliable product during the turbo hybrid era.
According to a June article by RacingNews365, senior management at Viry was considering perhaps discontinuing the business due to the complexity of the next 2026 power units, which will have stronger electrical systems.
It is believed that Alpine and advisor Flavio Briatore are now leaning in favor of reaching an agreement with Mercedes to start supplying power units to customers in 2026.
Speaking at the Belgian Grand Prix, where he also announced his own departure from the job of team principal, Famin went into depth about the procedures being implemented at Viry to perhaps end the production of F1 power units.
According to Famin, “We have presented a project, and the project is not the power unit,” as he informed reporters, including RacingNews365.
The initiative is considerably larger than that; it is an attempt to completely revamp the Alpine brand, and the engine brand is growing by introducing seven new, very advanced models.
“This new sporting brand is going to be built with big intentions to become well-known not just in France but worldwide.
“The concept, which was presented to Viry staff representatives at the beginning of the week, aims to reallocate resources that were previously allocated to the development of the Formula 1 power unit to the creation of new technologies for the brand.
“One consequence of this project, if it is accepted, is for the Alpine F1 Team to buy a power unit instead of developing its own, we would have more resources to develop the brand and to race with a different power unit for the Formula 1 team.”
“The project, which is scheduled to begin in 2026, was presented to Viry’s staff representatives in two separate bodies.
Since this is a project, nothing is being done at the moment, however we are in communication with a few manufacturers.
“There are social processes that must be strictly followed, and we are not allowed to make decisions until those processes have concluded. We are required to abide by French union [law].
“For the time being, we are talking to some manufacturers, but we cannot sign anything until this process is over.”