It has been revealed that current Alpine team principal Bruno Famin, who has run things since he assumed control following the departure of predecessor Otmar Szafnauer at the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix, will soon step back from the role.
Famin, who joined the role with duties as Alpine vice-president of motorsport, stayed on for the 2024 season, but will leave by the end of August.
F1's summer break starts after the Spa weekend, with the next race set to be the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on August 25th.
"Alpine F1 Team can confirm that Bruno Famin will move away from his current role as Team Principal of the F1 division by the end of August," read a statement.
"Bruno will be in charge of all other Motorsport activities of the Renault Group at Viry-Chatillon. A new Team Principal will be announced in due course."
Just an interim basis
Famin had originally only become team principal on an interim basis, and never intended to stay in the team principal role for the long term. However, a lack of obvious alternatives meant he continued in the position.
However, with Former Renault leader Flavio Briatore, who returned to the team as an advisor, pushing hard to make big changes within the team to improve their competitiveness. it is understood that now is a good opportunity for a transition to happen – potentially over the summer break.
Famin will be out of his post “by the end of August,” with his replacement announced “in due course.” He will be in charge at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. The season then goes on a summer break until the Dutch GP on Aug. 25.
Hitech Takeover
The word in the air has indicated that the favorite for the role is Hitech founder Oliver Oakes, who has earned a name for himself as the team principal of the successful Hitech F3 and F2 teams. Hitech run outfits in F2, F3, GB3 and British F4, among other championships, and last year registered its interest with the FIA in entering the Formula 1 championship. However, that application did not make it to the final stage of the process.
A new team principal is not the only change likely to be confirmed in the coming months at Alpine. This week it has also been reported that Renault are likely to drop their long-running F1 engine programme and instead sign with Mercedes to become a customer team.
Alpine Changing Things Up For 2024
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly had a disappointing start to the 2024 season. The Alpine F1 team, much to everyone’s surprise, was last place in the Constructors’ Championship after two races.
Ocon himself acknowledged the team’s difficulties after the Saudi Arabian GP, admitting that there was no hiding the struggles of the French team in Formula 1. Despite pushing the A524 to the limit, he only managed a 13th place. This indicated that there was a long way to go for the Alpine team to improve their performance.
Renault Set To Quit F1 As Power Unit Supplier
Bruno Famin has hinted that Renault will stop production of its F1 power unit from 2026, after announced his own departure from Alpine during a press conference.
They currently only supply its in-house Alpine team with power units since McLaren re-joined Mercedes for 2021, with the French manufacturer struggling throughout the turbo hybrid era to produce a consistent product.
Famin has detailed the processes going in at Viry to potentially wind down the production of F1 power units.
"We have presented a project, and the project is not the power unit," Famin told media, "The project is much bigger than that, it is a transformation project of the Alpine brand, and the engine brand is developing with seven new models with high-end technology."
"There are ambitious plans to build this new sporting brand to make it known outside of France, everywhere in the world.
"The project which has been presented at the beginning of the week to staff representatives in Viry is to reallocate the resources from the development of the Formula 1 power unit to dedicate those resources to developing new technologies for the brand.
"One consequence of this project, if it is accepted, is for the Alpine F1 Team to buy a power unit instead of developing its own, we would have more resources to develop the brand and to race with a different power unit for the Formula 1 team."
Famin also stated that the project will commence from 2026 onwards.
Mercedes x Alpine Crossover
Apart from announcing his exit from Formula 1 in Friday's press conference at the Belgian GP, Famin also confirmed recent speculation that Alpine are talking to other engine manufacturers with the intention of moving away from their own Renault works engine in time for 2026, when F1's power-unit regulations are being overhauled.
Mercedes, who are losing Aston Martin from their roster of engine customers in 2026, are considered the front-runners to supply Alpine from two seasons' time.
Alpine is in eighth place in the 10-team constructors’ championship with only nine points scored by drivers Pierre Gasly (6) and Esteban Ocon (3) placing Gasly in 15th place in the driver standings.
Ocon is the only driver to win a race for Alpine since it rebranded from Renault at the end of 2020. He is joining Haas next season. The team has yet to find a new partner for Gasly for 2025.
