Pre-season testing for the 2025 Formula 1 campaign commenced on Wednesday, yet the mood in the Alpine garage is not totally upbeat as fears grow about their new car.
Alpine are set to start the term on the back foot once again after the Enstone natives started 2024 with the worst car on the grid. Substantial progress through the season saw Alpine end last year in a much stronger place than they started it yet they may fall back down the order.
It took a third of last season for Alpine to turn a corner after starting off with an overweight car that also lacked downforce. Just Sauber even scored fewer points than Alpine across the first 20 rounds before Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly both reached the podium in Sao Paulo.
The now-former teammates standing on the rostrum took Alpine from ninth place to sixth in the F1 constructors’ championship, a place they held onto ahead of Haas. But Alpine may be looking over their shoulders ahead of the Australian Grand Prix on March 16 as fears return.
Alpine fear their Renault engine is not only the least powerful in F1 but is also unreliable
F1 heads to Melbourne for the 2024 season-opening Australian Grand Prix soon after testing in Bahrain. But the mood in the Alpine camp is not totally positive as the Enstone squad fear their engine is not only the least powerful on the grid but the Renault until is also unreliable.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage
That is according to Motorsport.com, which reports Alpine feel their Renault engine is down on power to the units that Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda have built for the last season of the current regulations. But Alpine also fear their engine is, in its current condition, likely to fail.
After pulling the plug on their factory power unit, Renault will continue to support the outfit ahead of Alpine switching to Mercedes engines in 2026. But their problems emerging before the 2025 campaign have forced Alpine to make concessions with the design of their new car.
Renault’s engine has forced Alpine to hollow out the undercut on their A525. As their power unit is hungry for air, the Enstone natives also have a larger airbox to improve the cooling for their V6 turbo-charged internal combustion engine in a bid to avoid any reliability problems.
Renault engineers are unlikely to improve Alpine’s engine ahead of leaving Formula 1
Renault made some efforts over the winter to improve Alpine’s engine but the power unit’s energy management and reliability remain a major concern ahead of the season starting at the Australian Grand Prix. Renault’s support is unlikely to extend to fixing the problems, too.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about F1’s 2026 engine and chassis regulations
Groupe Renault decided to refocus the resources at the brand’s Viry-Chatillon factory which creates Alpine’s F1 engine for other projects after deciding against building a power unit for F1’s 2026 regulations. So, Alpine struck a deal with Mercedes to get their engines next year.
Even Ted Kravitz questions Renault’s desire to improve Alpine’s engine given the company’s decision to withdraw from producing a factory F1 power unit. Additionally, David Coulthard thinks Renault want to sell the Alpine F1 team and felt the engine division could be an issue.
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