Renault face fresh backlash from Alpine employees after F1 engine exit call

Alpine’s engine employees at Viry-Chatillon have responded with dismay to the decision from Renault to halt its F1 2026 engine programme.

On Monday, the Renault Group confirmed its plans to pull the plug on its F1 2026 engine programme, and transform the manufacturing facility at Viry-Chatillon into a state-of-the-art engineering hub for the Group.

Alpine Viry employees respond to critical Renault decision

September 30th marked the deadline for the negotiations between the Renault Group and the employees at Viry-Chatillon that have been underway since the reveal by former Alpine F1 team boss that a transformation project had been proposed for the Viry factory.

The plan, outlined by Famin at the Belgian Grand Prix, would be for him to step away from his F1 duties to lead the transformation of the factory – this would involve halting F1 engine manufacturing activities with the staff being put to work on other areas of technology on behalf of the Renault Group.

Following a meeting with Renault Group CEO Luca De Meo on September 20th, the staff representative council, named the Comite Social et Economique (CSE), outlined their alarm at seeing the likely end of the F1 engine programme – the staff at the factory released an audio clip of the engine running on a test bench, with a representative explaining to PlanetF1.com at Monza that the engine is hitting current performance targets.

The Renault Group confirmed its intentions to transform the Viry site via a press release on September 30th, confirming its intention to pull the plug on F1 engine activities by the end of the 2025 season. This would mean the Alpine F1 team will switch to a customer engine supply deal, with Mercedes understood to be the leading contender, for 2026 and beyond.

The staff at Viry have responded to the decision made by the Renault Group, saying that the announcement has been met with the “unanimous, unfavourable opinion of the Alpine Racing Works Council”.

“All the staff representatives, representing the voice of the employees and a majority of the stakeholders, regret and deplore the decision to stop using F1 engines in 2026,” read a statement issued to PlanetF1.com by the CSE.

“This choice has been endorsed by the [Renault] Group, which wishes to reduce the financial risk associated with F1, even though no serious study has been carried out to assess the impact on future sales and the prestige of the brand.

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“The Group has ruled out partnership solutions, even though they would have made it possible to meet several objectives: maintaining an F1 business, reducing development and operating costs, retaining all the skills, and the possibility of taking a RE26 engine that has already been largely developed and is promising until the 2026 season.

“The content, resources and sustainability of the new projects that management wishes to bring to Viry are still largely unclear.

“The communicated size of the F1 monitoring unit (staff and budget) still seems too small, and calls into question Alpine’s potential return as an engine manufacturer.

“The history of the Viry site shows that decisions to the contrary have often been taken, and demonstrates the importance to maintain highly qualified skills for the future in order to leave the door open to a return to F1 when the regulations and the shareholder’s financial situation make it more attractive.”

The CSE also claims the project’s implementation will have immediate consequences on jobs and training, saying that: “On January 1, the Viry-Chatillon site will be reduced from 500 to 334 jobs, with the end of contracts for a large number of service providers, along with the loss of around a hundred indirect jobs at the main partners by the end of 2024.

“The end of the Concours d’Excellence Mécanique Alpine (CEMA), supported by the French Ministry of Labour, Health and Solidarity and the Ministry of Education and Youth commitment to equal opportunities, promoting gender diversity and raising the profile of a sector of young talent.

Concluding, the staff representatives for the Renault engine employees said that “the end of the F1 motorisation, the lack of maturity of the projects brought in and the loss of management means there is a major risk that critical skills will leave the Viry site.

“Despite the turmoil of the last 2 months, the Viry team has continued to develop the power of the 2026 engine which Alpine is losing. This contrarian decision means that Alpine is missing out on its sporting history.

“For all these reasons, the employee representatives on the works council unanimously voted against the transformation project. We call on the public authorities to defend the long-term future of jobs at the Viry-Chatillon site.”

PlanetF1.com understands the next step for the CSE is to try to gain political support from the French government.

The statement from the CSE marks the latest drama enveloping the Alpine F1 team, which has had a year of massive personnel changes. Having parted ways with former technical director Matt Harman earlier this season, former Renault F1 team boss Flavio Briatore was brought back into the fold as an executive advisor to CEO Luca de Meo, while Famin has stepped away from the F1 team leadership – he has been succeeded by new team boss Oli Oakes.

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