Alpine employees issue damning statement after Renault PU axe

Alpine Racing staff representatives have issued a damning statement after Renault decided to close its works engine programme at Viry from 2026.

Renault announced its decision on Monday, ending months of speculation, albeit slanted towards the fact it would shut down its F1 power unit operations at its Viry-Châtillon plant.

Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, many employees from Viry travelled to Monza to stage a protest in the hope of garnering support, and being allowed to finally speak to Renault Group CEO Luca Di Meo as he had failed to address them directly up until that point.

Although discussions eventually took place in September, Di Meo and the Renault board unsurprisingly opted to stop the 2026 PU programme, meaning Alpine will revert to customer engine status that season. 

The closing of Renault's F1 power unit programme has been under evaluation for the past few months, with employees launching a protest at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza against the closure.

With the closure, the team will become the first in the turbo-hybrid era to give up full works status and revert to a customer supply. 

All employees affected will be offered a position within a newly launched 'Hypertech Alpine' project at Viry.

Despite that, staff from Alpine Racing, representing the voice of employees and a majority of stakeholders, have issued a statement declaring that they "regret and deplore the decision to stop F1 engines in 2026".

Statement in full

The statement added: "This choice is endorsed by the [Renault] Group, which wishes to reduce the financial risk surrounding F1, even though no serious study has been conducted to assess the impact on future sales and the prestige of the brand.

"Partnership solutions were rejected by the Group, even though they would have made it possible to meet several objectives: maintaining an F1 activity, reducing development and operating costs, maintaining all skills, the possibility of bringing an already largely developed and promising RE26 engine until the 2026 season.

"The content, resources and sustainability of the new projects that Management wishes to bring to Viry still appear largely imprecise.

"The communicated sizing of the F1 monitoring unit (staff and budget) still seems too low, and calls into question the potential return of Alpine as an engine manufacturer in the long term.

"The history of the Viry site shows that contrary decisions have often been taken, and demonstrates the importance of maintaining highly qualified skills for the future in order to leave the door open to a return to F1 when the regulations and the financial context of the shareholder make it more attractive.

"This implementation of the project already seals the first very short-term consequences (within 3 months) on jobs and training:

"The Viry-Châtillon site will go from 500 to 334 jobs on January 1st, with the end of the contracts of many service providers

"The loss of around a hundred indirect jobs at the main partners by the end of 2024; the end of the Alpine Mechanical Excellence Competition (CEMA) supported by the Ministry of Labor, Health and Solidarity and the Ministry of National Education and Youth, carrying great values ​​of commitment to equal opportunities promoting diversity to promote a sector of young talents

"Generally speaking, the cessation of F1 motorisation, the lack of maturity of the projects and the loss of confidence in the management pose a major risk to the departure of critical skills from the Viry site.

"Despite the turmoil of the last two months, the Viry team has continued to develop the power of the 2026 engine that Alpine is depriving itself of. This decision, against the tide, causes Alpine to miss out on its sporting history.

"For all these reasons, the CSE staff representatives unanimously issued an unfavourable opinion on the transformation project.

"We call on the public authorities to defend the sustainability of employment on the Viry-Châtillon site."