Consultant Flavio Briatore completed his engine development at Alpine-Renault. The team will be a Mercedes customer from 2026. Now Briatore is justifying the decision against his engine and gearbox.
Major changes at Alpine – consultant Flavio Briatore now explains why he turned the French team from a manufacturer to a customer team.
Alpine will only use its Renault engine in 2025. Under the new regulations for 2026, the racing team will become a customer team, will buy a Mercedes engine – and close the Formula 1 part of Renault’s engine department in Viry-Chatillon near Paris.
Briatore explains in an interview with Auto, Motor und Sport: “The first step was to remove your own engine. By doing so, we say goodbye to something that only costs us but does nothing. From Mercedes we will get the best engine and transmission available in this business in 2026.
Briatore says clearly: “We don’t win with our engine. It’s simple if we want to win, we have to leave the areas where we are not competitive. This will be one less problem we have to worry about in the future. Let’s focus on the car.”
No more your own engine, no personal transmission – but all the resources directly in the car, that seems to be the new philosophy.
An Alpine consultant explains: “McLaren will be world champion with a Mercedes engine. How many times have you read or heard that McLaren-Mercedes became world champion? I never have. Haas is Haas and not Haas-Ferrari.”
The Italian continued: “If you want to win, 80 to 90 percent of your elements must be the best. You don’t need any disability. (…) And the gearbox? It can’t win you any races, you might even lose some.”
From 2026 onwards, it will no longer be possible to have your own gearbox, but rather than a Mercedes gearbox…
Final World Championship Standings (after 24 out of 24 Experts and 6 out of 6 races)
the driver
01. Verstappen 437 points
02. Norris 374
03. Leclerc 356
04. Plate 292
05. Sainz 290
06. Russell 245
07. Hamilton 223
08. Perez 152
09. Alonso 70
10. Gas 42
11. Hulkenberg 41
12. Tsunoda 30
13. Walk 24
14. Ocon 23
15. Magnussen 16
16. Albon 12
17. Ricciardo 12
18. Bearman 7
19. Colapinto 5
20. Zhou 4
21. Lawson 4
22. Bota 0
23. Sergeant 0
24. Doohan 0
Builders Cup
01. McLaren 666 points
02. Ferrari 652
03. Red Bull 589 Racing
04. Mercedes 468
05. Aston Martin 94
06. Alpine 65
07. Haas 58
08. Racing Bull 46
09. Williams 17
10. Sauber 4
