Renault Confirms End to F1 Engine Project after 2025 Season

• Renault’s engine division has been in Formula 1 since 1977, and concurrently since 1989, albeit occasionally rebadged under a different name.

• Since 2021. only Renault’s Formula 1 team, which competes under the Alpine moniker of its sports car arm, has used its power units.

• Alpine widely expected to join Mercedes’ engine roster in 2026.

Renault has confirmed that its Formula 1 engine activities will cease at the end of the 2025 season.

The move has been widely anticipated for a couple of months and has been met with widespread criticism in Renault’s native France, with employees lobbying to reverse the decision.

Renault’s engine division has had a lengthy involvement in Formula 1, beginning in 1977, and concurrently since 1989, albeit occasionally rebadged under a different name. Since 2021 only Renault’s Formula 1 team, which competes under the Alpine moniker of its sports car arm, has used its power units.

Employees have been working on Alpine’s 2026 power unit, under new regulations, but that project will now be mothballed and instead the Formula 1 team will switch to being a customer team under the next set of regulations.

In an announcement Monday the company revealed the rebranding of its engine company to an engineering centre under the name of Hypertech Alpine.

In a statement it confirmed that "Formula 1 activities at Viry, excluding the development of a new engine, will continue until the end of the 2025 season."

Alpine’s Formula 1 team has not yet communicated its engine plans for 2026 but it is expected to become a Mercedes customer team. Each employee at Alpine’s engine division at Viry-Chatillon will be offered a new role within the rebranded organization. That includes Alpine’s supercar project, battery technology and electric motor development, and its other motorsport programs, most prominently in the World Endurance Championship.

Alpine will nonetheless keep open an ‘F1 monitoring unit’ at Viry-Chatillon in order to ‘to maintain employees' knowledge and skills in this sport and remain at the forefront of innovation for Hypertech Alpine's various projects.’

Renault’s Decline

As an engine provider Renault has had a rich history in Formula 1, supplying both its works team and various customers, with fewer victories than only Ferrari and Mercedes power.

As an engine supplier its most successful spell came in the 1990s, when it powered Williams’ cars to five F1 Constructors’ Championships in six years, while in the early 2010s it was Red Bull’s supplier for its four straight titles.

But its partnership with Red Bull deteriorated following the introduction of 1.6 liter V6 turbo hybrid power units in 2014, with Renault’s products lacking performance and reliability.

The parties consequently had a fractious relationship, prompting Renault’s engines to be rebadged as TAG Heuer, before Red Bull switched to Honda power for 2019.

McLaren’s brief alliance with Renault ended after 2020, leaving Renault’s works team —under its Alpine name—as the only squad using the engines produced by the French organization.

Alpine itself is in a slump, having fallen to a dismal ninth in this year’s Constructors’ Championship, with new management tasked with revitalizing the team’s fortunes long-term.

And one major decision has been to abandon the 2026 engine project and sever ties between Alpine and Renault’s engine division.

Who Has What for 2026?

Current championship leaders McLaren will remain with Mercedes through 2030, alongside Williams, with Alpine widely expected to join Mercedes’ roster.

Ferrari will continue to power its own cars, and will continue with Haas through at least 2028, while Sauber is morphing into Audi’s works team ahead of the German marque’s first foray into Formula 1 in 2026.

Red Bull Powertrains, with assistance from Ford, is in the process of producing its first power unit for the 2026 regulations, which will power both Red Bull teams.

Honda, meanwhile, will join forces with Aston Martin, which is currently a Mercedes customer team.