Alpine is looking to leave Renault engines behind as talks with rivals regarding a customer engine deal have opened.
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The Renault engine has been a losing competitor amongst the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes when it comes to performance. It is apparent that, with Alpine’s continuous stream of changes to their team, the engine has become their latest project.
According to sources, team principal Bruno Famin has been thinking about the performance issues recently and has opened conversations with rival manufacturers.
Renault, Alpine’s parent company, have been evaluating the logistics of their power unit. Becoming a customer team takes away the costs of producing your own engine. The main negative is that it also takes away your ability to control the engine production.
Red Bull had previously used Renault power units before delving into the creation of their own. You may remember the awkwardness between Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and ex-Renault Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul on Drive to Survive when they had decided to split.
Although deals are supposedly being held with rival manufacturers, Alpine will be guaranteed an engine supplier for 2026 anyway.
The FIA has very specific and formative regulations regarding the minimum number of teams that a manufacture may be called upon by the FIA to supply an engine.
When it comes to the FIA picking a manufacturer for the Enstone based team, (if they do decide to abandon Renault,) the team supplying the fewest competitors will be chosen.
This would most likely be Honda. Mercedes are supplying themselves alongside McLaren and Williams. Ferrari supply themselves and Haas. Red Bull, who will create their own powertrains with Ford in 2026, supply themselves and RB. Audi and Honda will only be supplying themselves.
Audi will not be required to supply Alpine. A clause in the regulations explains how a new power unit manufacturer will not need to comply to the rules laid out.
This leaves Honda. The Japanese car company will have Aston Martin as its sole customer.
The first step that must be taken is Alpine deciding the right route to go down. They could choose the security of producing their own PU. With this comes a large amount of funding. Or, they could choose to be a customer to a manufacturer. This would have much less funding, but also less control over the piece of equipment which gives your car power.
Featured Image Credits: Motorsportweek.com