Renault shuts door on F1 engine production after 2025 season
A Renault Sport F1 engine at the Viry-Chatillon factory, Paris, France, Dec. 18, 2014. (AFP Photo)


Renault will cease Formula One engine production at its Viry-Chatillon factory following the 2025 season, with the Alpine team poised to compete using power units from a different manufacturer.

In a statement on Monday, Alpine revealed that the facility, located just outside Paris and home to over 300 employees, will transform into a "Hypertech" engineering center, which will also feature the establishment of an "F1 monitoring unit."

"Formula One activities at Viry, excluding the development of a new engine, will continue until the end of the 2025 season," the statement said.

"Each employee affected by this transformation project will be offered a new position within Alpine Hypertech."

Alpine said the F1 monitoring unit would "aim to maintain employees' knowledge and skills in this sport and remain at the forefront of innovation for Hypertech Alpine's various projects."

Alpine, ninth in the championship after repeated changes of leadership, is the only team using Renault power units. Its Formula One chassis factory is in Enstone, England.

Employees at Viry accused Renault management in August of wanting to buy Mercedes engines from 2026 to reduce direct costs from $120 million to $17 million.

"We fail to understand what justifies dismantling the elite entity that is the Viry-Chatillon factory and betraying its legacy and DNA by implanting a Mercedes heart into our Alpine F1," the works council said in a statement.

"The announcement of the end of the development and production of French power units for Formula One is nonsense."

There was no immediate reaction to Monday's announcement, and there was no mention of any deal with Mercedes in the Alpine statement.

There has also been speculation that Renault could sell the team, although executive advisor and former boss Flavio Briatore said in August that would not happen.

"Creating this Hypertech Alpine center is key to Alpine's development strategy and, more broadly, to the group's innovation strategy," Alpine CEO Philippe Krief said in the statement.

"It is a turning point in the history of the Viry-Chatillon site, which will ensure the continuity of savoir-faire and the inclusion of its rare skills in the group's ambitious future while strengthening Alpine's position as an 'innovation garage.'"

"Its racing DNA remains a cornerstone of the brand."

Formula One championship leaders McLaren use Mercedes engines, as do Williams, Aston Martin and Mercedes' factory team.

Aston Martin is due to switch to Honda in 2026 when the sport introduces a new power unit, opening up a potential customer vacancy with Mercedes.