After months of speculation and rumours, Renault has confirmed they will no longer develop Formula One power units after the 2025 season.
It leaves Alpine, the team formerly known as Renault before rebranding, without an engine for the 2026 season and beyond.
However, the French team is widely expected to become a Mercedes customer.
A recurrent presence on the grid, as both a team and engine supplier since 1977, Renault has had a major impact on the sport.
A team of innovation, Renault was the first team to feature a turbocharged engine in its debut season.
As an engine supplier, Renault formed the backbone of iconic teams such as William’s dynasty in the 1990s.
While the grid will lose a historic engine supplier, a Mercedes power unit would be a major improvement for Alpine.
The Renault engine has consistently been among the worst performing throughout the hybrid era, lacking pace and crucial reliability compared to the rest of the grid.
The 2022 to 2025 engine freeze has been particularly unkind to Alpine. Blocked from developing or fixing the power unit, the team’s strong fourth-place finish in 2022 has now crumbled to a present second-last with a measly 13 points.
In contrast, the Mercedes engine has been dominant.
It powered Mercedes to eight consecutive constructors titles from 2014 to 2021 and now assists McLaren’s championship lead.
Currently, four teams use a Mercedes power unit (Mercedes, McLaren, Williams & Aston Martin), but with Aston Martin’s move to Honda in 2026, a spot could open for Alpine.
But as Alpine’s time as a works team closes, it will be the last team to run a Renault engine after a disappointing decade.
Red Bull won four driver’s and constructor’s championships with Renault at the end of the V8 era but famously fell out with the French supplier after a poor start to the hybrid era.
Forced to run the Renault engine, Red Bull instead branded it as TAG Heuer until they moved to Honda power in 2019.
McLaren operated Renault engines from 2018 to 2020 after their horror Honda experience but abandoned Renault for Mercedes in 2021. They have since won six races and now lead the constructor’s championship.
Renault’s move to drop its engine department and the decision for Alpine to become a customer team is part of a sweeping rebuild triggered by Renault Group CEO Luca De Meo and executed by advisor and former Benetton and Renault team principal Flavio Briatore.
Previously indefinitely banned from F1 for his involvement in the 2008 Crashgate scandal, Briatore oversaw four constructor’s championships as team principal and aided legendary drivers Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso to two driver’s championships each.
Now, he has already begun aggressive changes at Alpine.
So far, team principal Bruno Famin left Alpine in August and was replaced by Oli Oakes.
In the cockpit, French driver Esteban Ocon will depart the team for Haas next year, and Australian reserve driver, Jack Doohan, will step up to take his seat.
Son of five-time 500cc world champion Mick Doohan, Jack Doohan has a strong racing pedigree and will enter the grid as one of the more experienced rookies in 2025.
An Alpine reserve driver since 2023, Doohan also has six F1 practice sessions under his belt and will become the first Alpine Academy driver to race for Alpine’s Formula One team.
Partnering with French driver Pierre Gasly, Doohan hopes to lead a new dawn at Alpine.
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