After years in the wilderness, Renault have decided to pull their F1 power unit programme and Alpine in future will be supplied by Mercedes even possibly as early as next season. Little has been written of the future of the Renault performance engine business currently located in Viry-Chatillon.
Renault have dipped in and out of F1 over the years as a works team, but have had a presence delivering power units since 1977. The incredible news that the French company will be withdrawing as an F1 power unit supplier following 12 constructor championships and 11 for the drivers over the years.
The F1 Alpine team is set to continue representing the Renault sports-car brand but for the first time in almost over half a century the Renault name will no longer be in the sport of F1.
GM to buy Renault F1 business
News from Germany now suggests that GM who are partnering with the Andretti F1 team are interested in buying the French F1 engine manufacturer lock stock and barrel. The Andretti proposal to join F1 was given the green light by the FIA last season but the commercial rights holder Liberty Media decided their presence added no incremental value to F1.
Andretti and GM were in effect told to come back in 2028 when Cadillac had developed a new 2026 specification power unit. But now there is an opportunity to accelerate their entry in the form of a ready made F1 manufacturing site up for grabs in Viry-Chattilon.
Germany’s long standing F1 writer Michael Schmidt now says on his podcast: “There is a rumour that General Motors is interested in buying the intellectual property [from Renault]. Whether they want to get rid of it now, I can’t imagine it will be difficult for an American company in France.”
“They’ll have a European headquarters, or maybe even in the USA, and they would then take everything with them. Then it would be ready to start straight away rather than in 2028.
“GM is a global car company and a so-called OEM in F1 speak and they can do that. For Andretti, in 2026 if the engine is there you can’t deny them [entry].”
F1 testing shootout planned for Ricciardo and lawson
Alpine power unit supplier in chaos
The problem with this proposition is that along with the Alpine team’s poor form the Renault made power unit is an estimated 40BHP down on the rest of the F1 field. As the new Powertrains specification for 2026 were being agreed, the FIA froze any further development on the current iterations in use.
Renault failed to capitalise on the final year of allowed development which is why they are down on the performance of the other manufacturers.
The question GM have to ask themselves is whether they are better taking over a facility which is past its sell by date and has lost a number of key personnel in recent seasons. The other option is to start from scratch as did Honda in 2015, but the Japanese brand proved playing catchup when others already have on track experience is not plain sailing.
Fernando Alonso famously described Honda’s early efforts as about as good as a “GP2 (F2) engine” as he struggled to extract pace from his McLaren F1 car.
Honda experience repeated?
The new 2026 engine regulations have been designed to make it easier of OEM’s to enter the championship after Honda’s recent woes. This has been achieved by dropping the complex MGU-H element of the hybrid system which extracts energy from the heat created by the internal combustion engine.
Yet the challenge of creating an F1 power unit should not be underestimated and GM as Cadillac currently only compete in sports car racing.
Other news from across the pond today is that ex-Aston Martin and Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnaeur has been recruited to head up a US backed F1 project to evaluate entering an 11th team in F1.
Speaking on the latest James Allen podcast the Romanian-American said: “I’ve been working with some organisations in North America that have the funding to start an 11th team.
Szafnaeur evaluating 11th F1 team application
“It’s not Andretti. Now we’re just putting some of those building blocks in place to make sure that we have everything that’s required in order to be successful to both start a team, but also get an entry. So, you know, that’s interesting too.”
Now its unclear who the American investors are but Formula One is a boom business in North America since the advent of Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ series.
Since Liberty Media acquired the commercial rights to Formula One, the number of American painters to the sport and with the teams has trebled bringing in much.
Andretti upset a number of senior figures in the paddock as they prepared their proposal to join the sport but in Otmar Szafnaeur the American investors have someone who knowns his way around F1 politics and won’t make the same brash mistakes like those made by Michael Andretti.
Williams boss addresses Sainz exit clause
US Justice Dept investigates F1 “anti-competition”
At this seasons Miami Grand Prix, several US senators revealed a joint letter to the US Justice department requesting an investigation into formula One’s alleged “anti-competitive practices.” F1 is in fact a private members club and it seems new competitors can only get through the door if the members agree they will all benefit from their addition to the grid.
“One of there arguments presented by the six senators was: “Last year, F1 hosted three races in America, in Miami, Las Vegas, and Austin, while no other country hosted more than a single race,” they added. “Clearly there is a financial incentive to adding an American team to F1’s roster, and there is no reason they should be blocked unless [Formula 1 management] is trying to insulate its current partners from competition.”
Andretti Global responded stating via a spokesperson: “We are pleased that Senators Klobuchar and Lee and their bipartisan colleagues have joined members of the House and called for an investigation into the practices of Liberty Media. Our focus at Andretti Global remains on building a world-class Formula One team and being ready to compete in 2026.”
Wolff all but confirms Antonelli for 2025
Aston Martin boss refuses to rule out move to Audi
Carlos Sainz landed a blow of disappointment to the Audi organisation this week when he finally turned down their overtures toward him once and for all. Carlos has a multi-year deal with Williams which will see him drive for the Grove based outfit until at least the end of 2026.
Audi were the first to move for Carlos when Ferrari revealed they were replacing him next year with seven times champion Lewis Hamilton. With Andreas Seidl in charge of the German F1 backed project, the attraction was obvious given their time together at McLaren.
Yet infighting between Seidl and corporate executive Oliver Hoffman saw the pair sacked by Audi in the run up to the Belgian Grand Prix. With Mattia Binotto taking the reigns, again this appeared a good fit for Carlos because the Italian brought him to Ferrari during his tenure as team principal… READ MORE
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Not surprised.
F1 results are rigged for marketing purposes