Alpine could abandon Renault engines and become F1 customer team in 2026

As part of an evaluation of its F1 project prompted by a difficult start to the current campaign, it has emerged that senior Renault and Alpine management have left no stone unturned in working out what is needed to improve its situation.

With its current Renault power unit down on performance compared to rivals, and no certainty it will get things right for the next generation turbo hybrids coming in 2026, it has questioned whether the huge investment needed to produce its own engine is essential.

It is understood that a plan is now being evaluated for Renault to potentially abandon work on its 2026 power unit and instead shift Alpine to become a customer team.

Sources have revealed that Alpine team principal Bruno Famin has been pondering the situation over recent weeks, and has held talks with rival manufacturers to see what the alternative options could be.

The most logical solution to avoid a potential manufacturer clash issue for Renault would be to take a supply of customer engines from Red Bull, which will have its own power units from 2026.

Speaking last year about the possibility of a customer deal, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “I think we need to establish ourselves first. We don’t want to overstretch ourselves.

“I think already supplying two teams in ’26, that is probably even slightly beyond optimum in year one, but it just gives us the capacity and capability for further down the line. So I think first of all, we need to firmly establish ourselves and then we have the capability to take more on from there.”