Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff says the German manufacturer is keeping an open mind regarding the possibility of supplying its 2026 power unit to the Alpine team.
Alpine’s parent company, Renault, is reportedly contemplating abandoning their in-house F1 engine development program and transitioning to a customer model, like Mercedes-powered teams McLaren and Williams.
Renault has undeniably struggled with F1 engine regulations since the advent of the hybrid era 2014. Its power unit has consistently fallen behind the competition, which led to it losing Red Bull as a customer to Honda in 2019.
With a major overhaul of the engine regulations coming into effect in 2026, and despite its Viry-Châtillon engine department working on a next-generation PU, Alpine might believe that customer status offers a better chance of success with much less capital expenditure.
During Friday’s team principals’ press conference at the British Grand Prix, Wolff addressed the possibility of supplying Alpine with its HPP engines, a deal that would replace the manufacturer’s current partnership with Aston Martin which will switch to Honda power from 2026.
“You know, I think that’s a complicated situation because we like the thought of, you know, replacing Aston Martin with another team because of the sheer learning you're doing,” Wolff explained.
“I think we're set up as an organisation that the more power units, the better it is in terms of accelerating some of the developments or the reliability,” he said.
“So this is where it is. I think it didn't go beyond the point of exchanging opinions or having like, you know, exploratory discussions. I think Alpine would take a decision, do they want to continue with their Formula 1 engine programme or not?
“And only when they have taken that strategic decision, we would dive into our agreements. But we're open-minded, and that's what we have told them.”
McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown sees no objections with Mercedes High Performance Powertrains supplying its product to Alpine if such a deal accelerates engine development for the manufacturer.
“Yeah, from our standpoint, what's good for HPP is good for McLaren as far as we're concerned,” he said.
“They've been an awesome partner to work with. So if it adds value to their power unit proposition, then we're all for it. And as far as decision timeframe, I think the sooner you can make a decision on any decision that you make is just better time for preparations.
“I would imagine they'll probably want to make a decision before the summer break to give them as much lead time to learn about the power unit and ways of working.”
Williams team boss James Vowles was on the same page as his colleagues, although his emphasized the importance of the lead time for Alpine which is being cut short with each passing month.
“I think Zak and Toto said it eloquently,” commented the Briton. “The more power you have in circulation, the more learning you have. There's no doubt about that in the current season.
“But I think it's also fair to say I'm not sure where McLaren and Mercedes are.
“But from our perspective, we have been working alongside HPP in order to get the concept right for ‘26 already for many, many months.
“And so whatever you do, you're going to be six to 12 months behind the three other teams. That's quite penalising in the grand scheme of things.
“It doesn't mean it's unachievable, but there's going to be areas where you're going to be compromising on. There's a tremendous amount of work getting ‘26 right. And the smallest decision on layout can actually have quite a large impact.”
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