F1: What will happen to the Alpine team?

While Renault’s actions, the parent company, fell strongly in the week and still look for an CEO to replace De Meo, rumors of sale of the team grow.

In 2020, his last F1 season under the name of Renault, the French team was fifth in the World Cup, with 181 points in a disrupted championship of just 17 dates by the COVID-19 and at times when there was no Sprint. The rhombus added 10.64 units per grand prize. By 2021, Luca de Meo, the company’s CEO, decided to change Alpine’s name. Since then, the Team did not take off and it was in fall. In 2021 he accumulated 155 points on 22 dates (three were with Sprint, which rewarded with three units to the winner). In 2022 he jumped: 173 in 22 GP with three sprint from eight to the winner and cast for the first eight. In 2023, 120 in 22 competitions and already with six sprint. Last year, with six sprint, he only scored 64 on 24 dates (35 in the San Pablo GP), an average of 2.66 by weekend. In the current exercise, the Estone has 19 on 12 dates (1.58 on average). The numbers only show the reality of the team.

The Runrún signed a possible sale of the Alpine F1 team. Those rumors were always deactivated by Luca de Meo, the man who always supported rhombus’s participation in Formula 1, even though there were voices inside the company. But De Meo’s word was almost sacred. The Italian took a boiling iron when he took charge of the company after the management of the Brazilian Carlos Ghosn, who left the position after being accused of financial misconduct, abuse of trust, embezzlement of funds from the company and of not having declared income. Ghosn escaped from Japan in a box of musical instruments and escaped Lebanon, where he resides today.

De Meo met all that panorama and managed to reverse the image of Renault. It generated a thorough renewal of the rhombus and expanded other brands that belong to the holding. 2024 closed with an operational benefit of 4,236 million euros. For the F1 team, he decided to hire his friend Flavio Briatore as executive advisor, that is, he only accounts with him. Again the rumor was lit that the goal with Flavio was to channel the course and sell it. The current Pope del Team made the determination to close the motor plant at the end of 2025 and be a Mercedes client in 2026. So far, they were making their way when walking, but De Meo’s resignation changed everything.

This week, De Meo finally left his post to move to Kering, a French multinational who specializes in luxury items and came from losing his stock market value in three years. That’s why they went to Meo. On the other side, Renault remained and the opposite happened. The only announcement of the arrival of Italian triggered Kering 9% actions in one day.

De Meo’s departure came at a time when the French brand sought to strengthen its position in the electric market in the face of the strong income of Chinese companies. A crisis was coming. Before the departure of Italian, Renault appointed Duncan Minto, its financial director, to occupy the position of CEO interim. His first day in office returned a 18% drop in the company’s price on the France Stock Exchange, the largest collapse since February 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. The company reviewed its operational margin forecasts for the first semester of 2025 and now wait for 6.5%, half a point below the initial forecast, and a free cash flow between 1,000 and 1.5 billion euros (before it was at 2,000).

Renault reinforced its cost reduction plan. In the middle, there is the Alpine team, waiting for a decision. As for the numbers in Estone, the decision to be a Mercedes client with the engines would generate savings close to 100 million dollars. The countercara is that last year the surprise double podium of San Pablo allowed the team to climb to sixth place in builders and accumulate money unthinkable at the end of the year when the profits were distributed as marked by the agreement of the Concord. If in 2025 it does not abandon the last place, a very feasible situation because the Team is focused on 2026 and will not develop the A525, the income difference would be around 30 million dollars.

From the team they hope that the cut announced by the parent company does not affect them. Media in Europe suggest that the rhombus would have rejected an offer of 1.2 billion dollars to sell its team. Behind Alpine could be a Chinese giant, who would seek to keep the team and the brand. The next few weeks will be key to knowing the future of the team in which Franco Colapinto runs.