Outgoing Alpine boss namechecks two huge potential partners as F1 customer status beckons

Outgoing Alpine team principal Bruno Famin believes that, if the team placed a Mercedes or Ferrari engine in their car, the integration “will be already very, very good”.

Alpine appear set to take on customer status in the coming seasons as staff at their Viry-Chatillon engine base are deployed onto other projects, but while Famin admitted such a change is “never easy”, a switch appears likely in this department at this time.

Alpine boss namechecks Ferrari and Mercedes in hypothetical PU replacement talk

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Famin, who will be departing his role as team principal by the end of August to make way for Hitech GP boss Oliver Oakes, stated the move has come as a result of the team looking at their resources and deciding how best to deploy them moving forward.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said he is “open-minded” about the possibility of having Alpine as engine customers, with Aston Martin moving away from Mercedes power and into their own factory deal with Honda from 2026.

Honda, Audi and Red Bull Powertrains will be on the grid from 2026, but the two most established names to choose for a customer deal would be those of Mercedes and Ferrari, should Renault confirm their decision to step away from manufacturing a 2026 power unit.

When asked why Alpine are potentially taking a step back from being a manufacturer in Formula 1, Famin replied to media including PlanetF1.com: “Because we are at a very specific crossroads where the project for developing the Alpine brand is now very concrete, very clear.

“We know the resources needed for developing it and, on the other hand, we know that for the 2026 car generation in Formula 1, it’s now that the chassis regulations have been published a few weeks ago.

“It’s now that we have to decide, because again, the guy designing the chassis needs to know with which PU they are going to use.

“It’s not why before, it’s because now the question at the Alpine brand point of view is how do we use in the best possible way for developing the brand the resources we have.”

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Given the potential move to customer status, which has not yet been confirmed, Famin mentioned that if two other power units were placed into the current car, they would be in a strong position.

However, when asked if this was the first step towards selling the team, he firmly denied this was the case.

“There is a bit of potential in developing the integration, but it’s quite theoretical at the end of the story, because now all the PU manufacturers are working very closely, very early in the project with the teams, and all the integration are incredibly optimised,” he said.

“And if we take a Ferrari or Mercedes engine, I’m quite convinced that all the integration, all the packaging will be already very, very good.

“Then to answer the question [of selling], no, the Formula 1 project remains a key project for the Alpine brand. It’s thanks to Formula 1 that we want to develop the brand awareness globally.

“That remains, but the project is just reallocating the resources to develop the brand better always based on the pillar of motorsport and mainly Formula 1 to develop the awareness.”

Regarding a meeting at the team’s engine base in Viry to inform the staff of their change in direction, Famin confirmed that no jobs will be lost in this process.

He confirmed: “A very important thing in the project which has been presented: every single employee will be offered a job. There is no redundancy at all, and we are doing everything to make potentially, because again, it’s still a project, but if it’s confirmed, to make a very difficult moment as less painful as possible.

“But we know it’s never easy, this kind of thing.”

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