Can Renault sell the factory team again?

Curiously, the only widely known book on the history of the Renault works team in Formula 1 was written in the mid-1990s and has not been reprinted since. And after all, so much high-octane gasoline has flown away in almost thirty years, and the need has clearly matured to return to this very curious subject, the more clearly the need has matured to start a new chapter in this chronicle.

The history of the French concern’s participation in the World Championship is unique in its own way, because Renault entered Formula 1 several times, then suddenly its interest weakened, and it either left altogether or remained as an engine supplier, but then invariably returned .

Halfway through the 2023 season, the team, now called Alpine F1, found itself in a crisis situation again, as almost all top managers were unexpectedly fired.

The British edition of The Race asks the question: perhaps these are signs that Renault management has once again “played enough” in Formula 1, but has not achieved the desired results, has lost its temper, and what is happening now, speaks of imminent changes that will be even more radical?

The main problem is that there is a significant discrepancy between the group’s top management’s ideas about how the factory team should work and what results should be shown, and what the Alpine F1 is really capable of in its current state.

Renault still insists that the Formula 1 team is almost the most important locomotive designed to promote the Alpine brand on a global scale. That. promote sales of the only model produced under this brand – Alpine A110. According to official information, sales are really growing, in 2022 they recorded a record, more than 33 percent growth.

But apparently this is still not enough, and if the recent series of layoffs is followed after some time by the sale of the team, this probably will not surprise anyone much. And this can really happen if the French company considers that the marketing potential of the project in Formula 1 has been exhausted, because there were actually no other tasks for the team.

But that’s not all. With Formula 1 becoming more and more popular, the market value of a championship franchise has skyrocketed, and Renault may well decide that now is the time to sell the team to at least partially offset the costs, rather than shelling out millions and millions to continue to invest.

It should also be added that Renault’s top management constantly interfered with the team’s work, as it was just another division of the company, while Formula 1 requires special treatment and must live and operate by its own laws. If these laws are broken, nothing good will come of it and there will certainly not be stable and high results. Then you better really sell the team, especially because there are people who want to buy it.

As British expert Mark Hughes summarized: “The problems caused by the intervention of the company’s management have been going on for several years and the reason is that the company is not satisfied with the insufficiently high results, although they are directly related to this intervention. . It’s just kind of a vicious circle, and these processes slow down the progress of a really good racing team.