Renault to cease F1 engine production post-2025
Renault announces end of F1 engine manufacturing post-2025, plans new engineering centre
Renault has announced that they will bring an end to their Formula 1 engine production at the Viry-Chatillon factory following the 2025 season. This decision marks a significant shift for the French carmaker's Alpine team, who will subsequently race using power units from a different manufacturer.
Renault has announced that they will bring an end to their Formula 1 engine production at the Viry-Chatillon factory following the 2025 season. This decision marks a significant shift for the French carmaker's Alpine team, who will subsequently race using power units from a different manufacturer.
In a statement released on Monday, Alpine revealed plans for the facility located outside Paris, which houses over 300 employees, to transform into a 'Hypertech' center of engineering. Among other developments, this will include setting up an 'F1 monitoring unit.'
"Formula One activities at Viry, excluding the development of a new engine, will continue until the end of the 2025 season," the statement read. "Each employee affected by this transformation project will be proposed a new position within Alpine Hypertech."
According to the announcement, the F1 monitoring unit is designed to "aim to maintain employees' knowledge and skills in this sport and remain at the forefront of innovation for Hypertech Alpine's various projects."
Alpine, currently languishing in ninth position in the championship after several leadership changes, is the sole team using Renault power units. Their F1 chassis factory is based in Enstone, England.
In August, employees at Viry expressed their concerns, accusing Renault management of planning to source Mercedes engines from 2026. This move, they argued, would cut direct costs drastically from $120 million to $17 million.
"We fail to understand what justifies dismantling the elite entity that is the Viry-Chatillon factory and betraying its legacy and DNA by implanting a Mercedes heart into our Alpine F1," the works council stated. "The announcement of the end of the development and production of French power units for Formula One is a nonsense."
There was no immediate reaction to Monday's announcement, nor was there any mention of a deal with Mercedes in the Alpine statement.
Speculation has also arisen regarding Renault potentially selling the team. However, in August, executive advisor and former boss Flavio Briatore dismissed such claims.
"Creating this Hypertech Alpine centre is key to Alpine's development strategy and, more broadly, to the Group's innovation strategy," commented Alpine CEO Philippe Krief in the statement. "It is a turning point in the history of the Viry-Chatillon site, which will ensure the continuity of a savoir-faire and the inclusion of its rare skills in the Group's ambitious future while strengthening Alpine's position as an 'innovation garage.' Its racing DNA remains a cornerstone of the brand."
It's worth noting that McLaren, Williams, Aston Martin, and the Mercedes factory team currently use Mercedes engines. Aston Martin is slated to switch to Honda power units in 2026 when new regulations are introduced, potentially opening up a customer spot with Mercedes.
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