After months of speculation, and discussions between various parties over the future of its engine division at Viry-Chatillon, Renault announced the fate of its operations on Monday.
The factory will be transformed into Hypertech Alpine, an engineering centre that will including projects such as Alpine’s planned supercar, the development of battery technology, and work on its other motorsport programmes.
Announcing the Hypertech Alpine project the company confirmed that ‘Formula 1 activities at Viry, excluding the development of a new engine, will continue until the end of the 2025 season.’
It means that Alpine will continue as a de facto works team through 2025 before switching to becoming a customer squad when new power unit regulations are introduced in 2026.
The company outlined that ‘each employee affected by this transformation project will be proposed a new position within Alpine Hypertech’.
Despite the cessation of its Formula 1 engine project Alpine outlined that it will continue to keep an eye on the championship.
‘Following the consultation process and dialogue with the employee representatives at Viry-Chatillon, Alpine has decided to establish an F1 monitoring unit’, read a statement.
‘This unit will aim to maintain employees’ knowledge and skills in this sport and remain at the forefront of innovation for Hypertech Alpine’s various projects.’
Australia’s Jack Doohan will join Pierre Gasly in Alpine’s driver line-up in 2025.
Renault/Alpine has struggled for performance and reliability throughout the current engine regulations.
It endured a fractious relationship with Red Bull, with ceased in 2018, while the factory team was left as the sole user of its engines when a three-year partnership with McLaren came to an end after 2020.
Monday’s announcement comes after several months of discussions between Renault’s management and its employees, as it became increasingly obvious that CEO Luca de Meo and new Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore saw no future in its 2026 power unit project.
Alpine has endured a fraught season both off- and on-track, and it holds only ninth place in this year’s championship.
Alpine has not yet announced the identity of its 2026 power unit supplier.
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