Last Updated on November 8 2025, 9:17 pm

The Renault owned Formula One Alpine team are about to set a record for that will embarrass the Paris based owners. For the first time in history a team owned by Renault will finish bottom of the constructors’ title race and Alpine boss Flavio Briatore blames decisions made a decade ago.

The French auto manufacturer has been associated with F1 since 1977 when they joined as a works team. They began supplying engines to others seven years later and became a face to be reckoned with.

Despite having won little since the glory days of Alonso in 2005-6, Renault remain the fourth most successful F1 engine supplier in history. Most of their 169 wins came in the quarter decade between 1979 and 2006 yet they still trail Ford’s 176 despite the American manufacturer’s last win being at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.

 

 

 

Renault second in all time F1 list

Yet Renault remain second in the all time list of engine manufacturers winning constructor titles. Ferrari lead the way with 18, Renault have 12 with Mercedes and Honda tallying 10 and 6 respectively.

So what went wrong for the once powerhouse of Formula One? As Briatore explains they once built the best of the F1 power units leading the Italian to go to extreme measures to acquire one for his Benetton team.

“I remember I was fighting like crazy to have the engine of Renault in ’95 because Williams blocked me to have the engine,” he said. So at the time, Renault had the best engine in F1. To have a Renault engine, I bought Ligier myself. I take away the [Renault] engine from Ligier, I give it to Benetton, and then I give to Ligier the Honda [Mugen] engine.

“For me, Renault was representing the best engine in the world. In ’95, we [Benneton] won 80% of the races with the Renault engine.”

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The doors close at fabled F1 engine factory

Now the doors of the once fabled motorsports engine factory in Viry-Chattilon will close its doors once and for all come the end of this season, with Briatore having decided he can’t fix the errors made by the Renault corporation some fifteen years ago. Alpine will become a Mercedes customer team in 2026 which has been something of an embarrassment at the auto manufacturers head quarters.

Renault ruled the roost supplying the Red Bull team with engines, winning four consecutive drivers’ and constructor titles between 2010-2013. Yet Briatore points the finger of blame at those who were making decisions at the time in preparation for the 2014 V6 turbo hybrid era as being responsible for Renault’s downfall.

He casts no aspirations against the engineers working at Viry-Chattilon at the time believing their hands were tied by decisions made in the Paris HQ. It was under the rule of the controversial Carlos Ghosn, the first true global CEO in the automotive world that the rot set in. Ghosn went on to lead the Renault – Nissan – Mitsubishi collaboration, saving the almost bankrupt Japanese car company.

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Briatore points to bad decisions made 15 years ago

Yet on his watch, the decisions were made for the new F1 era starting in 2014. “With the new rules for the engine, maybe at the time, Renault was not taking seriously to match the cost of making an engine like the Federation [FIA] wanted.

“Everybody else was investing a lot of money. You’re talking about Mercedes, Honda and Ferrari. Renault was like stay [the same investment] like it was OK. I am not pointing [the blame] at somebody, I think it just happened like that. At the time the president was Carlos Ghosn, and maybe the management had no balls to tell Carlos about being serious to do F1. Now we have the result.

“In the meantime, I think, Renault did the best that was possible. But if you don’t have a resource, then it’s very difficult to be competitive. Viry did the best as possible. [Bruno] Famin was here, he did the best as possible.”

Renault’s lack of funding for the new V6 hybrids saw Red Bull banished into the F1 wilderness until after much bad blood and severe year’s of Christian Horner blaming the lack of power from the French design PU, Milton Keynes took the decision to switch their two teams to Honda power.

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Renault corporate interference

Since ditching Renault in 2019, Red Bull haven 69 grand Prix with their Japanese partner and have returned to championship winning ways with four drivers’ titles and two constructor championships. Meanwhile Renault have faded into oblivion and the rebrand to Alpine has had little effect.

Briatore also criticises the corporate meddling from Renault HQ over the years, emphasising to run an F1 team properly the team principal needs control and to be fully embedded. “You know, I’m back in Enstone in the same office as 20 years ago. We discussed, and I said to Luca that if you need some help, I will help you because I’m disappointed [in how the team has fallen from grace since Flavio was in charge].

“The team was managed by people from France, from Paris. F1 is already difficult to manage day by day in the office, in Enstone. So managing F1 from Paris is impossible,” said the Italian. Flavio admits to hating every moment he currently spends at an F1 weekend. “We are here for winning,” he said. “We are not to be a tourist to go around the world.

“It’s very hard, this situation for us. I’m not used to it. I was used to it 20 years ago, but now every Sunday is torture. You have no chance. You arrive in places and you see the mechanics put the garage together, working very hard. Then you watch all these people doing the best effort as possible, and you don’t have the possibility to enjoy the race, to go back home with the points.”

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Alpine did no 2025 car development

A glance at Alpine’s result since the start of the 2025 ay indicate the return of Briatore is not working. Yet Briatore took the decision to undertake no in season development of the A525 car and instead focus all the team’s resources on 2026 with the hope of a big rebound next season.

“We don’t have the capacity to develop the 2025 car and a 2026 car,” explains the Italian suggesting it would have resulted in maybe just one or two places improvement for the team in the final standings.

“That was our belief when we made the decision, but it was a bit of an underestimation because everybody has done a better job than us. In the beginning our car was P6/P5. After that, everybody improved the car a lot, and we are not where we expected. So that is why we took the risk to put all the effort into the 2026 car.”

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P5/P6 grid aspirations for Briatore next year

As to the future, Briatore is most optimistic for the Alpine team next season. “I want us to be in the first six [on the grid],” he said. “When you’re sixth/seventh, you start the race, and you smell the podium already. When you are 14th/15th, forget it. My dream, if you want, is to be competitive, to be at this kind of level.”

Coming from the bottom of the pile to becoming a top four team appears a big ask for Briatore, but he recalls his past battles with the once dominant McLaren and their boss Ron Dennis.

“It’s a big, big, big, big challenge. But I’ve never had a small challenge,” he said. “With Benetton, the people were laughing because we were a T-shirt maker. I remember [former McLaren boss] Ron Dennis, he told me that I don’t have motorsport in my stomach.

“Then, in the meantime, we were winning the races with no motorsport in the stomach.” Alpine look set to retain their current driver lineup, with Franco Colapinto’s fortunes on the rise. Pierre gaily’s last point was in Spa, and across the last four seven race Grand Prix, there young Argentinian was out qualified and to raced his team mate four times.

 

 

 

 

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