Hi friends,
How’s everyone dealing with the month long break? I’ve reached the point where I’m starting to see racing circuit outlines in the small rain puddles on my deck.
Top story of the week: Renault has confirmed the end of their F1 engine programme
I really wanted to talk about Mohammed Ben Sulayem this week, after another in a seemingly unending line of bad interviews the FIA President has chosen to do. But we have to talk about Renault.
On Monday Renault announced that they will cease production of their F1 engines at the end of 2025.
Why is this important? Since joining Formula 1 in 1977, Renault engines have powered a total of 12 Constructors’ Championships and 11 Drivers’ Championships. It’s a sad end for what used to be a very successful engine.
Back in the Belgium recap, I talked about what the playbook for Renault handing off the Alpine team would be, and ending the engine programme is a major step towards that happening. For anyone potentially interested in taking over, being faced with also having to carry Renault’s engine project will almost certainly be too much of an ask.
When we put the factors together; the rebranding from Renault to Alpine, the lacking results, bringing on a new group of external investors, the businessman (among other things) Briatore coming back, a new outside hire for Team Principal and the end of their engine programme, the arrow is pointing more and more towards an eventual Renault exit.
That being said, selling an F1 team is no small task – but there are interested parties. We know that both Andretti and Hitech want to join the grid, and with record valuations on F1 teams, there are certainly more interested investors out there.
For now we wait on the announcement that Alpine will switch to Mercedes engines in 2026, and then… Who knows? But I don’t think it’ll be very long before the first stories about a potential sale begin to appear.
The rest of the stories this week:
- Red Bull considered selling their junior team before the rebrand from Alpha Tauri to VCARB
- Helmut Marko was pushing to drop Daniel Ricciardo as early as the Spanish GP
- Sergio Perez responds to rumours that he would announce his retirement at the Mexican GP
- FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem lashes out at British media for being biased against him
- FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem doesn’t think the FIA gets enough credit
- 8 time WRC Champion Sebastian Ogier: “We’ve been told from the top of the FIA that we need to shut our mouths”
- Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he’s struggled with mental health issues most of his life
- Keanu Reaves will race in the Toyota GR Cup at Indianapolis this weekend
- 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are suing NASCAR and their CEO Jim France
- Michael Andretti is selling his ownership stake of Andretti Global
- Haas’ lawsuit over former Team Principal Guenther Steiner’s book has been dismissed
- Zak Brown joined and then left the Board of Directors of Andretti Acquisition Corp. II
- Formula E will host an all-women pre-season test in 2025
- The planned post-season all-rookie sprint race has been pushed to 2025
- Liam Lawson has picked #30 as his car number
- Isack Hadjar has been named Red Bull’s reserve driver after Liam Lawson was promoted
- Argentina’s Minister for Tourism & Sport, Daniel Scioli, has talked to the president about hosting an F1 race
- Formula 1 and LVMH (Owners of brands like Louis Vuitton, Möet and TAG Heuer) announced a new 10 year partnership
- Two researchers at Universiti Teknologi MARA in Shah Alam, Malaysia published a paper analysing Charles Leclerc’s team radio communications
That’s it for this week. Until next time, thank you for being here.
If you want to support me, you can help fuel the snack addition that powers me through compiling these lists and vetting the stories – you can do so on Buymeacoffee or Patreon.
