Christian Horner has shared his feelings on the prospect of Renault bowing out of F1 as a power unit supplier.
The French marque will continue to race in Formula 1 as Alpine, but plans to convert into a customer team at the end of the 2025 season, ahead of the new power until regulations being introduced.
Ex-Alpine team principal Bruno Famin announced a project exploring the option of halting engine development, as well as that he was stepping down from his role, at the Belgian Grand Prix. Oliver Oakes has since been named as his successor.
It is a startling development and a drastic step for any F1 team to willingly forfeit works team status - one that loudly suggests Renault was struggling to get to grips with the 2026 power unit rules.
The French car giant has found itself lagging behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda in recent years, and if the outlook moving forward was as bleak, it may have seen this development of the lesser of two evils.
Renault supplied Horner's Red Bull with engines from 2007 until 2018, powering Sebastian Vettel to each of his four drivers' championships, and the Milton Keynes team's first four constructors' titles, between 2010 and 2013.
However, when the V6 turbo-hybrid era began in 2014, Renault - and therefore Red Bull - struggled. Unable to make the most of strong Adrian Newey-designed chassis during that period, Horner became increasingly frustrated and the relationship between Red Bull and Renault became increasingly strained.
For 2016, the power units were re-badged TAG Heuer, but the lack of substantive improvement in reliability and performance led to a nasty split between the two companies in 2018 - which began a key storyline on the first season of Netflix show Drive to Survive.
However, despite his chequered past with Renault, Horner shared his regret at F1 potentially losing the power unit producer.
"I'm always sad to see an engine manufacturer go," the 50-year-old told media including RacingNews365 at Spa-Francorchamps.
"Viry [Viry-Châtillon, where Renault produces the Alpine power unit] has been involved in Formula 1 for many, many years, but I understand they have other projects that they are involved in.
"They supplied engines to us for many years, so we know quite a lot of the people there and wish them well for the future."
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