The budget for ‘the F1 monitoring unit’ is not confirmed
It’s official. From 2026 Alpine will race in F1 powered by Mercedes power units. The French team has decided to renounce its prestigious motoring tradition to follow the McLaren model. The Woking team is a Mercedes customer with regards to the supply of engines and is currently the technical reference on the starting grid and leader of the Constructors’ classification. In 2026 Aston Martin will be equipped with Honda engines and Alpine will take the place of Lawrence Stroll’s team in the list of Mercedes customer teams.
And now without the F1 program what will be the future of the over 300 employees (334 to be precise) at the Viry-Chatillon plant? Today’s edition of the French sports newspaper The Team reports what was communicated to the factory by the parent company, namely that the Endurance and Dakar programs (with the Dacia brand) will use the available resources which will also have to develop the hydrogen supercar that is in Alpine’s plans. Furthermore, there was talk of one hypothetical ‘F1 monitoring unit’ to remain vigilant and possibly ready for a return to the top automotive formula.
If the budget for the hydrogen supercar has been confirmed, the same cannot be said for this ‘F1 monitoring unit’ which according to the plant’s managers should consist of a working group of no less than 60 people. The TeamFurthermore, it reports the fact that the 2026 power unit has been running on the dynamometer since June and that the first results were “excellent“. This engine, however, will never see an F1 track, certainly not in 2026.
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