Alpine faces challenges and speculation about its future in Formula 1
The Alpine team has been experiencing a constant turnover of technical and senior staff, resulting in the departure of Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri. This has not been beneficial for the team and has even become a source of amusement behind the scenes of F1. As a factory team, Alpine is far from competitive, without customer support and without clear management direction. Speculation has arisen that Renault may sell its F1 team and focus exclusively on being a power unit supplier for the category.
However, according to comments made by de Meo to Autocar, this speculation is unfounded. He is fully committed to the success of the Alpine F1 team and has no intention of selling any part of it. Money is not a concern for him and, despite receiving numerous offers, he is not interested. De Meo is determined to prove the skeptics wrong and will not give up on the team.
Despite this firm statement, Alpine is currently underperforming, with a low-power and difficult-to-control car. This is not helping their drivers, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon. Ocon will leave the team at the end of the season. De Meo attributes the drop in performance to the low-performing hybrid-era engine and mistakes made with the car in the current year. These factors have caused Alpine to be 1.5 seconds behind its potential.
Despite these challenges, Renault remains committed to the future of Alpine in F1. De Meo has outlined a plan to bring the team back to the top, with plans to improve the current setup and seek competitiveness in the next cycle. He expects a much better performance from the team and believes they should consistently be in contention, aiming for second or fifth place. Currently, Alpine has only scored five points in the 2024 F1 World Championship and sits in eighth place in the points table.
