Tough times for Alpine don’t seem to be ending anytime soon. The team’s staff members planning to stage a protest at the upcoming Italian GP. Renault, their parent company, wants the Enstone-based outfit to shut down its powertrains department next year and this news hasn’t been well received by the workers.
Alpine was already in a dire financial situation, with Renault CEO Luca De Meo’s leadership questioned several times in recent months. There have been multiple high-level exits, including Otmar Szafnauer and Pat Fry, and the French outfit has been scrambling to make ends meet.
Shutting down their in-house engine project seemed to be the only solution Alpine’s top brass could come up with. Reports suggested that an official announcement about the same could come out as early as the Italian GP weekend.
In case Alpine goes ahead with the closure of its powertrains department, they will turn to Mercedes for engines from 2026 onwards. But workers at Alpine don’t want that. The protest stems from the fact that Renault has been “deaf to any dialogue” about their concerns.
Renault employees at the F1 base at Viry-Chatillon will go on strike on Friday in protest at plans to close the F1 engine programme after next year. There will also be a protest at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza from employees in the grandstand. Not to affect team activities
— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) August 29, 2024
As things stand, Alpine’s employees will form groups for the upcoming protest. They don’t want to hinder the team’s operations in Monza. Instead, a part of the workforce at Viry (their French base) will go on strike to support the protest. Meanwhile, around 100 people will break off into two groups, to protest from the stands at the Italian GP using banners.
There will also be a show of support from the staff working from within the Alpine garage in Monza. They will reportedly be wearing black bands around their arms to stand in solidarity with their co-workers protesting from their offices.
Alpine has responded to the planned strike action at Renault’s Viry engine facility and the planned protest at Monza in the wake of the team pursuing customer Mercedes F1 engines over its own Renault power from 2026 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/VDX4io7HZ1
— The Race (@wearetherace) August 29, 2024
Alpine’s management is well aware of the planned protests and they have issued a response for the same too. Per the statement, the proposed project of transformation is still under evaluation. The team is yet to arrive at a final decision, and a dialogue with the personnel in Viry could still take place, before coming to a conclusion.
