Bruno Famin has announced he will step down as Alpine team principal by the end of August to focus on his role of vice president of motorsport for the company, and also confirmed that Renault intends to end its Formula 1 power unit supply.
Renault-owned Alpine has been exploring options relating to its power unit over the past 12 months, and is understood to have lined up Mercedes as its most likely supplier should it become a customer. Personnel were informed earlier this week of a proposal to stop development of the Renault power unit — based in Viry-Chatillon in France — ahead of 2026, and while the plan needs approval due to French labor laws, Famin has outlined the reasoning behind the decision.
“The latest is that we have presented a project,” Famin said. “It is not [just] the PU, the project is much bigger than that. It’s a transformation project at the level of the Alpine brand. The Alpine brand is developing — it has a huge project of development with new models in the coming years with heightened technology. It’s very ambitious to build this new sporting brand and to make it known outside of France, everywhere in the world.
“The project which has been presented at the beginning of the week to the staff representative in Viry is to reallocate the resources from one side to another. One side being the development of the Formula 1 power unit, which is already made in Viry, to dedicate those resources and skills to developing new technologies for the new project of the brand.
“And then one of the consequences of this project, if it is accepted, would be then for Alpine F1 team to buy a power unit instead of developing its own power unit. Then will have more resources to develop the brand, and a different power unit to race for the Formula 1 team.”
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With Famin carrying out dual roles at Alpine and initially only named as interim team principal in Belgium 12 months ago, he says he will step down as team principal at the end of next month to focus solely on the transition at Viry-Chatillon.
“For the last year I have been doubling my activities with the VP motorsport role where I am managing Viry — with all the endurance and other projects – and on top of that acting as managing director of BWT Alpine F1 team,” he said. “Considering the stake of the new project I was just mentioning, I think it would be much more useful for the company to dedicate my time, to concentrate my time on the Viry activities.
“I mean all the Viry motorsport activities, and to the transformation project, if it is confirmed, because it will be a huge impact on the Viry people. Let’s not forget they are [doing] an amazing job — we all know since 2014 we don’t have the best engine in Viry but it’s one that improved the most since 2014. Now we are not exactly at the top, but the improvement has been very good.
“On the job being done at Viry to prepare the 2026 engine, we fixed very high targets and I am confident we can reach that target. The figures we have from the dyno are very good, all the people involved are very good, professional and skilled, and it is a very difficult situation there, and I thank all the people to dedicate the necessary time to have them in this project, which is huge.
“We have a new executive advisor — I have no problem with Flavio [Briatore], the little time we spend together. No issue, no problem, everyone knows him. He has his own way and goal. I have no problem, but I think it will be clearer if I step down from the team principal role of Alpine F1. I will step down from the team principal role by the end of August and be fully dedicated to the Viry activities from the first of September.”
Hitech team principal Oliver Oakes has been linked with the Alpine role this weekend in Belgium, after having seen his attempts to gain an entry onto the grid as part of the FIA’s application process fall through last year.