Alpine’s Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore has had his say on the Renault Group’s plans to cease production of Formula 1 power units for the Alpine team, saying “the problem is the evidence.”
Former Alpine Team Principal Bruno Famin made public in July the intention by Renault management to cease production of F1 Power Units in Viry-Chatillon and pivot the Alpine squad to becoming a Mercedes customer entry.
In becoming an F1 customer team, Alpine will slash costs from $120 million per year making its own engine to $17 million per year buying from Mercedes.
Briatore said the main issue pushing the Renault Group down this path is down to the underperforming Viry engines in F1’s hybrid era.Indeed, Viry’s power units have routinely been the worst performing since F1 went hyrbid in 2014 with reports suggesting the French marque is approximately 20 horsepower down on its rivals.
The decision to divert Viry’s attention away from F1 to the likes of Dakar, FIA WEC, Formula E and the Alpine road car programme has gone down like a lead balloon with staff representatives.
Last week, the Social and Economic Council of Alpine employees wrote, “We do not understand what justifies killing this elite entity that is the Viry-Chatillon site and betraying its legend and its DNA by grafting a Mercedes heart into our F1 Alpine [car].”
