After months of speculation about Alpine ditching its engine program to transition from a works team to a customer team, they have finally confirmed that they would switch over to Mercedes power units from the 2026 season onwards. Alpine have been struggling in recent seasons as they have fallen from fourth in the constructors’ championship in 2022 to sixth in 2023, and are currently ninth in the standings in 2024.
According to F1 pundit Nate Saunders, this decision to switch to Mercedes power units is a result of internal conflict within Alpine with the engine operations being blamed for the team’s poor performance. However, it has been pretty clear that the entire management of the team has been chaotic in the past year or so with a lot of movement in the leadership of the team.
While Saunders believes that sourcing parts from Mercedes will surely help Alpine find some improvement, he suggests that the team needs to sort out its race operations if they want long-term success.
He said, “I think what it [switch to Mercedes PU] suggests is that people in the race operation have squarely blamed the engine department for the failings of that team. And I think that you know the more you work in Formula 1 the more you realize that I think the whole race operation has been flawed for a long time as well.” He further added,
“So I think getting Mercedes engines in it should make them more competitive but I can’t see if the race operation is still not functioning… we don’t know what the effect will be.”
Alpine set to link up with Mercedes for a customer power unit deal? Where have we seen this before…
The Enstone-based team’s F1 cars were previously powered by Mercedes back in 2015, with the outfit under the guise of Lotus pic.twitter.com/DUVa9MAkA9
— Autosport (@autosport) July 23, 2024
However, he also noted that the switch to Mercedes Power Unit could also simply be a “window-dressing” in order to make the team look more appealing to potential buyers.
Could Andretti find its way into F1 by acquiring Alpine?
Ever since Formula One Management rejected Andretti’s bid to enter the sport with GM’s Cadillac wing as its PU supplier, they have suggested that Andretti should look to buy an existing team rather than entering as an 11th entry on the grid.
According to F1, the Andretti application won’t provide enough value to the series.
Application rejected. ❌
This is beyond ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/6I0cCLEuQo
— Vincenzo Landino (@vincenzolandino) January 31, 2024
And if Alpine’s switch to Mercedes is indeed meant to lure Andretti into buying it, it could end up benefiting both parties. Andretti will acquire a team that is already well-versed in running operations in the Formula 1 championship, and Alpine will get a profitable exit from the sport.
However, Andretti Global has already set up factories in Indianapolis and Britain to cater to its F1 project, so buying Alpine might not be the best option for the American team going forward.
