Renault boss Francois Provost promises stability for Alpine despite engine failure and a weak season—and is relying on two key figures to achieve this.
The new Renault CEO Francois Provost wants to keep Renault’s subsidiary brand Alpine in Formula 1. At the 2025 Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Provost told Canal+: “Above all, I want to use my visit to reaffirm that we will remain in Formula 1 for a long time to come.”
That was not always clear: The French racing team has been falling short of its own expectations and goals for years and will even close its own engine factory in Viry-Chatillon, France, at the end of the 2025 season. From 2026, Alpine will source engines from Mercedes, meaning it will no longer be a works team, but only a customer team.
However, there is one constant in terms of drivers: Pierre Gasly recently extended his Alpine contract. Provost sees this as a “very positive sign” for the Formula 1 team. “In 2026, we will enter a new era, which will be an era of performance, but above all an era of stability. Pierre’s commitment is a good sign of this.”
Provost also emphasizes that the Alpine Formula 1 team is “taking many steps forward” under advisor Flavio Briatore. “The appointment of Steve Nielsen as team principal is a good example of this.” Nielsen will succeed Oliver Oakes in September, who himself was only in office for a short time – Alpine has also lacked consistency in its management recently.
The history of Alpine in Formula 1
Alpine has been competing in Formula 1 under its own name since 2021 and achieved a surprise victory in its very first year: Esteban Ocon won the turbulent Hungarian Grand Prix. Most recently, Alpine finished on the podium in Brazil in 2024 with Ocon and Gasly in P2 and P3 – and so far in 2025, it is clearly at the bottom of the Formula 1 constructors’ championship standings.
The team’s history dates back to 1981, when it first competed in the Formula 1 World Championship under the name Toleman. Benetton later bought the racing team and led it to its first World Championship successes with Michael Schumacher in 1994/95. Shortly afterwards, this became the Renault works team, which won the world championship again in 2005/06 with Fernando Alonso.
Renault subsequently withdrew from Formula 1 as a constructor, but returned in 2016 and took over its former team again, initially under its own name, until it was renamed Alpine in 2021.