Just over a week ago, FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem, changing his original position, joined the opinion of those who advise Michael Andretti not to create a new Formula 1 team from scratch, but one of the existing to take over.
The catch is that they are not currently for sale, although Zac Brown, as an experienced entrepreneur, assures that the only question is the price. “This just means we have to offer a larger amount,” said the McLaren Racing CEO.
Among the teams that could theoretically be put up for sale in the near future is Alpine, whose business has clearly not been going well lately. However, Luca de Meo, the head of the Renault group, recently stated categorically that he will not sell the factory team, even though it now occupies the penultimate place in the constructors’ championship.
“I want to be clear: we have no intention of giving up. This is not my style,” he emphasized in an interview with British publication Autocar. – We will not sell any part of our team. We don’t need money. People came to me, made suggestions left and right and then told the press. But we are not interested in this. It would be stupid, and I won’t do it.
We were world champions with Red Bull, but with the arrival of the hybrid era the situation changed for the worse. Even the engine we developed in 2021 was 0.2 to 0.5 seconds behind competing engines per lap. And this year we also made mistakes with the car. And if you add it all up, we’re about a second and a half short of where we need to be.
This year and next year we will try to work with what we have now, and then, in the next cycle, we will do everything we can to improve the situation. Serious challenges await us, but we will do everything we can to become a competitive team.
I expect her to improve, we are not here to take 16th place. We need to get involved in the debate about good results as often as possible. It could be second place, sometimes fifth, but we should be around this level…
Alpine should become one of the strongest teams in Formula 1 because it is supported by the Renault Group. I don’t think we can be called a top team yet, we don’t deserve that, but we are not tourists here, so we have to work hard.
Yes, we make mistakes, but it happens. However, I believe we are doing the right thing by putting Formula 1 at the forefront of the Alpine programme; we painted the car blue to symbolize our unique car culture. This brand has absolutely legitimate claims to success, as it has always been associated with motorsport. But with Alpine we can achieve more and I don’t want to miss this opportunity.”
Source: F1 News

I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.