The backstory
In 2026 the Renault may no longer be present in F1 as an engine supplier. The glorious French manufacturer, which has won as an official and as a supplier to illustrious teams such as Williams, Red Bull and Benetton, is currently the worst power unit of the lot and this is why Alpine is close to closing the deal with Mercedes for 2026 in the hope of following in the footsteps of McLaren, which is currently the technical reference point despite being a customer team in terms of engine supply.
The turbo-hybrid era began in F1 exactly ten years ago and it was Red Bull who was betrayed by the Renault power unit in terms of competitiveness. The V8 built in Viry-Chatillon was more than enough to win from 2010 to 2013, but in 2014 Mercedes left a void. In 2015 Ferrari significantly improved the engine’s performance, Renault did not do the same and the Red Bull she was forced to look for a new partner to get back to aiming decisively for the conquest of the world title.
Podcast Guest The Inside Line Helmut Marko he told some behind-the-scenes stories of the negotiations that led Red Bull to focus on Honda, coming off a colorless – if not downright unsuccessful – three-year period with McLaren. “In 2014 I had Niki Lauda’s approval to race with Mercedes power units, but Toto Wolff opposed the agreement – Marko’s words – a few years later we took the risk of choosing Honda as a partner, but I had confidential information from AVL about how much Honda was investing in the development of power units on the dynos. I really like the motto ‘no risk, no fun’ and this decision to ‘bet’ on Honda falls into this category, as does having Max Verstappen debut in F1 when he was not yet of age”.
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