Famin confirms Alpine-Renault plans to drop power unit operations

For a while, there have been rumors that the top management at Renault, aka CEO Luca de Meo, have been contemplating the future path for their struggling Alpine F1 Team, and Flavio Briatore was brought in as executive advisor to help plot that path.

Over the past week, the situation at Alpine started to unravel as reports about Renault deciding to stop the F1 power unit production and Famin leaving intensified.

Indeed all was confirmed on Friday, as Alpine announced Famin would step down from his F1 role to focus on other motorsport activities.

As for the other plans regarding dropping the Renault power unit and Alpine becoming a customer team, Famin all but confirmed that was the direction that has been set with execution pending the procedure dictated by French labor law and union requirements.

Speaking in the F1 team representatives press conference, Famin said: "The latest is that we have presented a project.

"In fact, the project is not the power unit. The project is much bigger than that. It's a transformation project at the level of the Alpine brand. You know, the Alpine brand is developing, has a huge, huge project of development, with seven new models in the coming years with high-end technology. Very, very ambitious to build this new sporting brand and to make it known outside of France, everywhere in the world.

"And then the project which has been presented at the beginning of the week to the staff representative in Viry-Châtillon is to reallocate the resources from one side to another, one side being the development of the Formula 1 power unit, which is being made in Viry, to dedicate those resources and skills to developing new technologies for the brand, for the new product of the brand.

"And then, one of the consequences of this project, if it's accepted, would be then for 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 for the Formula 1 team," he pointed out.

Famin was then asked about the timelines and their plans for procuring an F1 power unit, he said: "The project which has been presented to the staff representative in Viry and to different governance bodies, is talking about '26 onwards on the power unit, clearly.

"Of course, we are talking to different PU manufacturers. And for the time being, of course, nothing is done because, again, it's a project. We cannot... We have to follow, you know, in France, unions, we have a social process, very strict to follow. And we have to follow it very strictly.

"We cannot take any decision until having reached the end of that process. For that, I mean, we are talking to some PU manufacturers, but we cannot sign anything until this process is over.

"It's the French labour law, which are a bit strict, to correct, if I was not correct enough the first time," Famin added when asked if French labor unions requirements may delay the process.

"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," he declared. "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," Famin concluded.