Alpine principal Bruno Famin to step down. F1 team may drop homemade Renault engine in 2026
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This article was published 26/07/2024 (800 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (AP) — Struggling Formula 1 team Alpine is switching team principals midseason and may also ditch its homemade Renault engines in 2026.
Alpine team principal Bruno Famin will be out of his post “by the end of August,” with his replacement announced “in due course,” the team said on Friday. He will be in charge at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. The season then goes on a summer break until the Dutch GP on Aug. 25.
Famin will then focus all of his efforts to his other current post: Vice-president of motorsports of Renault Group at its Viry-Chatillon engine facility.
“I will step down from the team principal role by the end of August and be fully dedicated to the Viry-Châtillon activities from the 1st of September,” Famin said at the Spa track.
Alpine is in eighth place in the 10-team constructors’ championship with only nine points scored by drivers Pierre Gasly (6) and Esteban Ocon (3).
Ocon is the only driver to win a race for Alpine since it rebranded from Renault at the end of 2020. He is joining Haas next season. The team has yet to find a new partner for Gasly for 2025.
Renault engine also?
Alpine is facing a potentially bigger change regarding its future.
Famin said Alpine is considering dropping its homemade Renault engines in 2026 and becoming an engine buyer, even though he added that such a move has yet to be finalized.
That could be a blow to the prestige of a Renault that used to sell engines to other teams, including the Red Bull title winners.
Famin said the shift would form part of a strategy “to dedicate those resources and skills to developing new technologies” for Alpine, Renault’s sports car brand, of which its F1 car is its flagship vehicle.
“Considering the stakes of the new project I was just mentioning about Viry, I think it will be much more useful for the company to dedicate my time, to concentrate my time to the Viry activities,” Famin said.
The exit of Famin comes after other personnel changes, including the controversial return of former team boss Flavio Briatore in an advisory role last month.
Briatore left F1 after being found guilty of ordering Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash his car to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008. He was initially handed a life ban by governing body FIA but he took the matter to a French court and successfully overturned the punishment.
Famin said his role change has nothing to do with Briatore’s return.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing