Alpine to use Mercedes engines from 2026

The Renault-owned Alpine team will use Mercedes engines in Formula 1 from the 2026 season.

The deal, which follows the decision in September to end Renault’s own engine programme in 2025, runs until at least the end of 2030.

Alpine will also use Mercedes-supplied gearboxes from 2026, although the team are exploring their options to design these in-house from 2027.

The move, which is aimed at increasing competitiveness after years of the Renault engine failing to match up to its rivals, follows a shift in focus at Alpine, after many years of failing to achieve its ambitions in F1.

When Renault re-entered F1 as a team owner in 2016, it set itself a five-year target to be competing for world titles.

This was recalibrated when the team was rebranded as Alpine in 2021, and a new target to achieve the same aim was set – in 100 races’ time.

But the chief executive who set that target, Laurent Rossi, was fired in 2023 and since then there has been major management upheaval at Alpine, with a series of leading figures departing the team.

In June this year, former Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore was appointed executive adviser by Renault chief executive officer Luca de Meo, with a remit to restructure the team.

Briatore has since appointed Briton Oliver Oakes as team principal and told Sky Sports Italia recently that the workforce at the UK base in Enstone, Oxfordshire, had shrunk by 300 people, from 1,150 to 850.

This was in contrast to comments he made in a news conference at the Dutch Grand Prix, when he said he “didn’t want to cut jobs”, while also saying the team “didn’t need so many people”.

An Alpine spokesperson said: “The organisation of the F1 team at Enstone has been under review in order to optimise the resources and put the team in a position to work efficiently and strategically, to quickly recover performance and compete again at the sharp end of the grid.

“As part of that review process, there are areas of the Enstone team that are going under a restructure, with the sole aim of putting the right organisation in place for the team’s future success.”

Alpine started the season as the slowest on the grid but have made significant progress in recent months.

A critical strategic decision during the wet Sao Paulo Grand Prix on 3 November led to Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finishing second and third, behind winner Max Verstappen.

That result vaulted the team from ninth in the constructors’ championship to sixth in one go, a potential gain of about $30m (£23.4m) in prize money if they can retain the place to the end of the season.