Renault engine staff slam Alpine ‘betrayal’ as F1 engine withdrawal looms

Alpine parent company Renault has been slammed for its “betrayal” of staff working at its Viry-Chatillon engine headquarters, according to a report in French media.

With the workforce at Renault’s Viry-Chatillon factory in France being informed of a decision to change focus on its activities and withdraw from an F1 power unit manufacturing programme, a staff representative has spoken of the levels of “betrayal” that has been felt within the ranks.

Bruno Famin outlines changes at Viry-Chatillon

Following months of speculation about the future of Alpine’s power unit supply and what may happen to the Renault Group’s engine manufacturing programme, based at its factory at Viry-Chatillon, Alpine F1 team boss and vice-president of motorsport Bruno Famin confirmed the intent to pull the plug on its F1 activities and take on a customer engine supply from 2026.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Famin confirmed his own departure from leading the Alpine F1 team in order to head up a transformative process at Viry as the factory embarks on activities more pertinent to Groupe Renault as a whole.

Famin confirmed that a proposal has been issued to the staff representative at Viry-Chatillon with the intention of reassigning the staff, meaning the withdrawal of Renault as a power unit manufacturer from F1.

“We have presented a project, the project is not the power unit,” Famin told media including PlanetF1.com.

“The project is much much bigger than that. It’s a transformation project at the level of the Alpine brand.

“Alpine is developing as a huge project of development with seven new models in the coming years with high-end technology. It’s very ambitious to build this new sporting brand and to make it known outside of France everywhere in the world.

“The project which has been presented, at the beginning of the week, to the staff representative in Viry-Chatillon is to reallocate the resources from one side to another – one side being the development of the Formula 1 power unit, which is already being made in Viry – to dedicate those resources and skills to developing new technologies for the new products of the brand.

“One of the consequences of this project, if it’s accepted, would be for the Alpine F1 team to buy a power unit instead of developing its own power unit and then, we’ll have more resources to develop the brand and a different power unit to race with for the Formula 1 team.”

Should the proposal be accepted by union representatives, a complex process which is now underway, Renault engines in F1 will be no more – meaning the Alpine team could need a customer engine supply. The team has already been strongly linked with a Mercedes power unit supply deal, with Aston Martin switching to Honda power in 2026.

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Viry-Chatillon staff label Renault changes “a betrayal”

But the proposal has been met with dismay by staff at Viry, whose work on a power unit for F1 2026 has now been in vain. Speaking to French publication L’Equipe, union rep Karine Dubreucq said the changes had come out of nowhere and had been greeted with shock by the workforce of more than 250 people.

“We didn’t see it coming,” Dubreucq said.

“It’s a stab in the back, a betrayal. We developed engines here that were capable of becoming F1 champions twelve times over, and now we can’t? They didn’t even wait for the first run on the test bench.”

Renault power units have raced in F1 for almost five consecutive decades, with 12 Constructors’ Championship wins with Williams, Benetton, Red Bull, and as a factory team.

While warning signs had been emerging in recent months with Alpine slumping down the order in the championship, the staff had not imagined a complete pulling of the plug on the programme – the report in L’Equipe also revealed that the staff’s work clothing had changed to remove the brand’s blue, white, and red piping.

A management meeting is understood to have taken place on Wednesday in order to address the conditions of the conversion of the site, with an eye towards a shift towards hydrogen power for Groupe Renault activities.

But the work on an F1 2026 power unit hasn’t yet shut down, with sources speaking on the condition of anonymity revealing the performance figures being hit are matching and exceeding the targets outlined.

“We think it will be equivalent to the Mercedes engine,” said one specialist.

“At worst, there will be a difference of 15 horsepower. We have redesigned everything in the turbo.”

But the staff aren’t giving up yet, with work continuing on the power unit that may never be placed into the back of a single-seater formula racing car. With Dubreucq revealing that staff are already taking sick leave, there’s no intention of halting work yet – but a source has hinted at greater consequences.

“Potentially, we might not be able to start the cars,” a source is quoted as saying, with another employee warning: “If we stop now, we’ll never hear of a Renault engine in F1 again.”

With the process of conversion at Viry-Chatillon having begun, Famin has also addressed concerns that French labour unions could prevent Renault’s decision to cancel its F1 engine programme as he said: “No, I don’t expect any delay. The process will take some weeks and it will be quite fast anyway.

“We are following all the mandatory steps and there is no reason not to make it properly. 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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