Alpine F1 Team Confirms Big Change To Powertrain As 2026 Approaches

Saajan Jogia | Jan 6, 2025

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Alpine driver Pierre Gasley (10) during F1 qualifying for Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes has revealed the team's strategy to build its own gearbox starting in 2027 while relying on Mercedes for gearbox supply during the 2026 season. Oakes explained the rationale behind this approach as Alpine prepares to transition into a customer team under the new regulations, which will see the Enstone outfit sourcing power units from Mercedes beginning in 2026.

The team's parent company, Renault, announced last year that it would cease power unit manufacturing at its Viry-Chatillon facility from 2026 due to escalating costs. This decision ends Alpine's status as a works team in Formula 1 next year, sparking many protests from the staff involved in power unit development. Despite the pushback, the French manufacturer stood firm in its decision.

Oakes, who took charge at Alpine last season, has been implementing substantial changes to the team, working closely with executive advisor Flavio Briatore to drive its transformation and elevate it to being one of the sport's top teams. Addressing the decision to purchase a Mercedes gearbox for just one year in 2026, Oakes explained the reason behind the move in an interview with Motorsport.com. He said:

"We're taking that [gearbox] just for one year in 2026. It gives us a bit of headroom to during that regulation change to sort of have one less thing to worry about.

"But our own gearbox is in the car now and we're performing, and it will be the same in 2027 as well going forward.

"It's just purely balancing resource for that one season in 2026, and everybody in the team, they've designed, manufactured and built and raced a great gearbox. And it's clear to see the current results as well."

While a team like Williams has openly declared its intention to allocate the majority of its resources toward developing its 2026 car, hinting indirectly at a willingness to forgo 2025 to focus on the upcoming era, Oakes highlighted Alpine's approach for the next two seasons, adding that the team does not intend to compromise its 2025 performance completely. He added:

"[Balancing 2025 and 2026], that's the daily topic at the moment, I think because some teams have been quite vocal about sacrificing 2025.

"How much of that you believe or not, I don't know. Maybe they're sort of trying to move some pressure off themselves because most teams know already in December where they're looking for 2025. And you wonder when teams come out with comments like that...

"From my side, we want to have a good '25. We're pretty humble that that's not going to be easy because there's quite a lot of carryover from this year.

"And we know we'd love to go more to town on development and balancing resource for 2026, but I guess everybody's going to be judged the next three years; I think people will judge us on he job we did 23-24-25-26-27 as a period of time rather than just in that moment in F1.

"I'm new in the job, but I find it quite interesting reading stuff online that a lot of people don't take into context, the sort of background and the build-up to things.

"And the situation we were in as a team, it wasn't just because of the winter. Things were signed off way earlier. And I think it's always important to look at the global view. "