 | |
| Full name | BWT Alpine Formula One Team[1] |
|---|---|
| Base |
|
| Teamprincipal(s) |
|
| Technical director |
|
| Website | Official website |
| Previous name | Renault F1 Team |
| 2026 Formula One World Championship | |
| Race drivers | |
| Test driver(s) |  Paul Aron Kush Maini |
| Chassis | A526[9] |
| Engine | Mercedes[10][11] |
| Tyres | Pirelli |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 114 (114 starts) |
| Engines | Renault,Mercedes |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 1 |
| Podiums | 6 |
| Points | 535 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| 2025 position | 10th (22 pts) |
Alpine Racing Limited[12] (/ˈælpɪn/), currently racing asBWT Alpine F1 Team for sponsorship reasons,[13] is the name under which theEnstone-based Formula One team has been competing since the start of the2021 Formula One World Championship.[14] Formerly namedRenault F1 Team and owned by the French automotive companyGroupe Renault as well asRenault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, the team was rebranded for 2021 to promote Renault's sports car brand,Alpine, and continued to serve as Renault'sworks team,[15] a position the team kept until Renault pulled out of Formula One (as an engine manufacturer) at the end of 2025.[16] The team is based inEnstone, Oxfordshire, England and competes with aFrench licence.[17]
The team has a long history, first competing in Formula One in1981 asToleman, when the team was based inWitney, England.[18] In1986, following its purchase byBenetton Group, it was renamed and competed asBenetton. As Benetton, it won the1995 Constructors' Championship and its driver,Michael Schumacher, won two Drivers' Championships in1994 and1995.[19] Prior to the1992 season it moved to its current location inEnstone, UK.[20]
By the2000 season,Renault had purchased the team (for the first time), and by the2002 season its name was changed toRenault F1 Team, and it was racing as Renault.[21] Renault won the Constructors' Championship in2005 and2006 and its driver,Fernando Alonso won the Drivers' Championships in the same two years.[22] In2011,Lotus Cars came on board as a sponsor, and the team's name changed toLotus Renault GP, though still racing as just "Renault" for that season.[23] By 2012,Genii Capital had a majority stake in the team, and from 2012 until 2015 the team's name wasLotus F1 Team, after its branding partner, and it raced as "Lotus".
At the end of 2015, Renault had taken over the team for a second time, renaming it toRenault Sport Formula One Team.[24][25] The team raced as "Renault" again, from2016, and continued as such until the end of the2020 season.[26] When discussing the history of the organisation as a whole rather than those of specific constructors it has operated, the colloquialism "Team Enstone" is generally used.[27][28][29] The team operates in a 17,000 m2 (180,000 sq ft) facility on a 17-acre (6.9 ha) site in Enstone.[30] By May 2023, Alpine had approximately 1,000 personnel in Enstone and 350 inViry-Châtillon.[31][32]
The involvement of the sportscar manufacturerAutomobiles Alpine in Formula One can be traced back to1968, when the Alpine A350 Grand Prix car was built, powered by aGordini V8 engine. However, after initial testing with Mauro Bianchi atCircuit Zandvoort, the project was ended when it was found that the engine produced around 300 horsepower (220 kW) compared to theCosworth V8 engines' 400.[33] In1975, the company produced the Alpine A500 prototype to test a 1.5 L V6 turbo engine for the Renault factory team which would eventually début in1977.[34][35][36][37]
In September 2020, Groupe Renault announced their intention to use "Alpine" as their works team's new name going forward to promote the Alpine brand, and thus the team became known as the "Alpine F1 Team" whilst retiring the "Renault F1 Team" moniker after five years.[26]
In June 2023, a group of investors, including actorRyan Reynolds, agreed to a deal to pay €200 million for a 24% stake in the Alpine Formula One team.[38] More investors joined the group later in 2023, includingNFL playersPatrick Mahomes,Travis Kelce, golferRory McIlroy, former heavyweight champion boxerAnthony Joshua andfootballersTrent Alexander-Arnold andJuan Mata.[39][40]
In June 2023, Renault Group sold a 24% stake in Alpine Racing Ltd to a consortium led by Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments for €200 million.[41][42] Additional minority investors joined the group later in 2023, including NFL playersPatrick Mahomes andTravis Kelce, golferRory McIlroy, footballersTrent Alexander-Arnold andJuan Mata, and former heavyweight boxing championAnthony Joshua.[43]
In 2025, Renault further adjusted Alpine Racing Ltd's ownership structure by selling an additional minority stake to new financial partners, reducing its shareholding to approximately 60%. The expanded investor group built on the earlier 2023 transaction and was intended to strengthen Alpine's commercial growth strategy and increase long-term Formula One investment capacity.[44]
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For 2021 Alpine signed two-timeWorld ChampionFernando Alonso to replace an outgoingDaniel Ricciardo.[45] This would mark Alonso's third spell driving forTeam Enstone having driven for them from2003 to2006 and again from2008 to2009 and won two drivers championships with the team in 2005 and 2006 when the team used the Renault name.[46]Esteban Ocon was retained from the2020 Renault team.[47] The Alpine car usedRenault engines.[26] Renault team boss,Cyril Abiteboul, announced he would leave as Renault transitioned to Alpine.[48][49] Abiteboul was replaced byDavide Brivio, who previously worked forSuzuki inMotoGP.[50][51]
Alpine's first race ended with Alonso being forced to retire, after debris caused his car to overheat.[52] Ocon was hit byAston Martin driver,Sebastian Vettel.[53] Despite a disappointing start, Alpine scored in the next fifteen races,[54] including a victory for Ocon at the2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.[55]
It marked the first victory for aFrench driver driving for a French team sinceOlivier Panis' triumph at the1996 Monaco Grand Prix driving for theLigier team as well as the first victory for a French driver driving a French car powered by aFrench engine sinceAlain Prost's triumph at the1983 Austrian Grand Prix driving aRenault car.[56] Alonso also scored a podium in theQatar Grand Prix,[57] after qualifying fifth but starting third due toMax Verstappen andValtteri Bottas gaining grid penalties.
In January 2022, both team principal,Marcin Budkowski,[58][59] and non-executive director,Alain Prost, left their roles.[60]Otmar Szafnauer, formerly ofAston Martin F1 Team, was announced as the new team principal in the same month.[61] Former deputy secretary-general for sport at theFIA, Bruno Famin, has been recruited as executive director of Alpine at Viry-Châtillon, responsible for power-unit development.[62] Famin had also previously ledPeugeot to three consecutiveDakar Rally victories as head of its sporting division from 2016 to 2018, and aLe Mans 24 Hours triumph in 2009 as technical head of its endurance program.[63]Oscar Piastri replacedDaniil Kvyat as test driver.[64][65] In February 2022,BWT became the title sponsor of the team, in a deal aimed at sustainability drive.[66][67]
Alonso qualified in second for theCanadian Grand Prix, only behind Verstappen.[68] This was his best qualifying position since the2012 German Grand Prix,[69] though he suffered an issue in the race and finished in ninth.[70]
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Alonso moved toAston Martin for the2023 season because he wanted a multi-year contract extension, and Alpine was only willing to give him one more year in F1.[71][72] Alpine announced that Piastri would be replacing Alonso;[73] but Piastri immediately denied he had a contract to race with the team.[74] Team principal Szafnauer criticised Piastri, saying that Piastri should show more loyalty to Alpine,[75] and claimed that Piastri was thankful when told about his F1 promotion prior to Alpine's announcement.[76] In September 2022, a hearing of theContract Recognition Board determined that Alpine did not have a valid contract with Piastri[77] and was free to race with rival teamMcLaren in 2023.[78] During the2022 Japanese Grand Prix weekend the team confirmed thatPierre Gasly has signed a multiple-year contract with them starting in 2023.[79]
In July 2023,Laurent Rossi was replaced by Philippe Krief as CEO.[80][81] During theBelgian Grand Prix weekend, Alpine announced that Szafnauer and sporting directorAlan Permane would leave the team after the race. Chief technical officer Pat Fry would also leave the team at the end of the year to joinWilliams.[82][83]
Alpine finished the season sixth in the Constructors' Championship, while Gasly and Ocon were 11th and 12th, respectively, in the drivers' standings. The team reportedly lost about half a second per lap on average because the Renault power unit was lagging behind its rivals.[84] Without this deficit, the team could have had performance similar to that of theMercedes team.[84]
Alpine retained the driver pairing of Gasly and Ocon for the2024 season. At theBahrain Grand Prix, the team locked out the bottom of the grid in qualifying and finished the race in 17th and 18th.[85][86] After the race, it was announced that Alpine's technical directorMatt Harman and head of aerodynamicsDirk de Beer had left the team,[87] with the team moving to a structure of three technical directors, with Joe Burnell overseeing engineering, David Wheater for aerodynamics andCiaron Pilbeam for performance.[6] A few days later, it was reported thatBob Bell will leave his advisory role at Alpine to reunite with Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin in an operational role.[88] On 2 May,David Sanchez, who had left McLaren a month earlier, was signed as executive technical director.[89] In May 2024, Alpine announced the controversial return ofFlavio Briatore to the team as an executive advisor. He previously worked atTeam Enstone as team principal from 2000 to 2009, having previously resigned due to arace-fixing scandal.[90]
After finishing out of the top ten four races later, Alpine scored their first points at theMiami Grand Prix where Ocon finished tenth.[91] At theMonaco Grand Prix, Ocon collided with Gasly during an overtake attempt in the first lap, resulting in the former's retirement from damage. Ocon was issued a five-place grid penalty at theCanadian Grand Prix[92] and later apologised for his role in the incident. Team principalBruno Famin commented that there would be "appropriate consequences".[93] A week later, Alpine announced that Ocon will leave the team at the end of the season following his contract running out.[94] During theBelgian Grand Prix weekend, Alpine announced that team principal Bruno Famin would leave his role as team principal. Famin is set to move toRenault's mainline motorsports divisions.[95] Famin's position was taken byOliver Oakes from theDutch Grand Prix onwards.[96] Alpine scored a double podium at the2024 São Paulo Grand Prix with Ocon finishing second and Gasly third behind only race winner and defending drivers championMax Verstappen of Red Bull Racing, a result which moved Alpine from ninth to sixth in the Constructors' Championship ahead of the Haas, RB and Williams teams with three rounds remaining. This marked"Team Enstone's" first double podium under the Alpine name and their first double double under any name since the2013 Korean Grand Prix when the team was known asLotus F1.[97][98]
The day after theQatar Grand Prix—where Gasly finished 5th and Ocon DNFed due to a crash on the first lap—it was announced that Ocon would be released from the team early, prior to his scheduled move toHaas in 2025. In his place,Jack Doohan, who was already signed for the team in 2025, made an early debut for the last round of the season at the2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.[99]
For2025, Gasly was retained by the team for what will be Alpine's last season with a works Renault power unit. He was paired byJack Doohan, who has served as the teams' reserve driver in previous seasons was promoted to a full time race drive replacingEsteban Ocon who joinedHaas.[100] Four drivers were selected to replace Doohan as test and reserve driver for the 2025 season, includingPaul Aron,[101]Franco Colapinto,[102]Ryō Hirakawa,[103] andKush Maini.[104] Hirakawa left for Haas shortly after theJapanese Grand Prix.BP andCastrol left Alpine after eight years to supply fuels and lubricants to the impendingAudi entry, soEni andValvoline joined the team as official suppliers.
The 2025 season started poorly for Alpine, with the team sitting bottom of the Constructors' Championship in 10th place after the first three rounds inAustralia,China andJapan, being the only team not to score a point in any of those three rounds.[105] Following a poor Melbourne weekend for the team, Doohan was involved in numerous wheel to wheel incidents with other drivers during the China weekend in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix which saw him pick up four penalty points on his FIA Super Licence after only two Grands Prix.[106] To make matters worse, Gasly was disqualified from the main Grand Prix result due to hisA525 chassis being underweight. The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was disqualified for the same infringement at the same race.[107] At the following round at the Japanese Grand Prix, having had to vacate his car toRyō Hirakawa for the first practice session that weekend, Doohan returned to the cockpit for the second practice session only for him to crash heavily after failing to close his car's DRS system before going through the first turn.[108] Doohan started and finished the race in Japan in 19th, while Gasly started 11th and finished 13th in the same event.[109][110] The Japanese round also laid bare the continued deficencies of the Alpine's Renault power unit once more, with data suggesting the Alpines losing at best 0.6 seconds in the second sector at the lap at the Suzuka Circuit (which features two long straights), mostly because of the power deficit of their Renault engines.[111]
Following theMiami Grand Prix, team principal Oliver Oakes resigned, with Executive AdvisorFlavio Briatore becoming thede facto team principal and racing director Dave Greenwood assuming Oakes' formal duties.[112] Doohan was also confirmed to have lost his Alpine seat to Colapinto on a "rotating seat" basis, with the latter scheduled to debut at the subsequentEmilia Romagna Grand Prix and race for Alpine for five races. Doohan would be demoted to reserve driver in Colapinto's place.[113]
Even after bringing in Colapinto, Alpine's struggles continued throughout the season; Colapinto suffered a big crash in qualifying in Imola, and neither he nor Gasly was able to score points. Gasly suffered an early retirement inMonaco after hitting oldAlphaTauri teammateYuki Tsunoda, but managed to score a point in the subsequentSpanish Grand Prix. The team recorded three further finishes in the points inBritain,Belgium, andSão Paulo. However a pointless weekend at thepenulimate round in Qatar guaranteed that the team would finish bottom of the constructors' championship in their final year with a works engine, 46 points behind 9th placed Sauber with a maximum of 43 constructor points available atthe season finale in Abu Dhabi. Alpine in 2025 scored a record high number of points for a team finishing last in the constructors' championship.[114]
On 30 September 2024, owing to lack of strong results with its power unit during the V6 turbo-hybrid era since it began in2014,Renault announced it would be ending its engine programme following the conclusion of the2025 championship and would not be making engines for the new2026 regulations.[115] This means Alpine will lose its status as a works team and become a customer team ofMercedes, whilst still being majority owned by Groupe Renault.[116] Alpine will utilise Mercedes engines and gearboxes from the 2026 season onwards.[117]
For 2026, Alpine will retain Gasly,[7] with Colapinto being signed for a full-time drive.[118]
| Key | |
|---|---|
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Other points position |
| Blue | Other classified position |
| Not classified, finished (NC) | |
| Purple | Not classified, retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| Race cancelled (C) | |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Excluded (EX) | |
| Did not arrive (DNA) | |
| Withdrawn (WD) | |
| Did not enter (empty cell) | |
| Annotation | Meaning |
| P | Pole position |
| F | Fastest lap |
| Superscript number | Points-scoring position insprint |
Results inbold indicate pole position; results initalics indicate fastest lap (key).
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Alpine A521 | Renault E-Tech 20B 1.6V6tt | P | BHR | CHN | RBR | GBR | ITA | BEL | POR | NED | USA | EMI | MEX | BRA | 123 | 5th | |
 Nicolas Longuet | 2 | 18 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 7 | 7 | ||||||||
 Fabrizio Donoso | 10 | 2 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 14 | 17 | 19 | |||||||||
 Patrik Sipos | 17 | 17 | 8 | 16 | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 2022 | Alpine A522 | Renault E-Tech RE22 1.6V6tt | P | BHR | EMI | GBR | RBR | BEL | NED | ITA | MEX | USA | JPN | BRA | UAE | 13 | 9th | |
| Patrik Sipos | 18 | 18 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 18 | 11 | 12 | 14 | |||||||
 Filip Prešnajder | 11 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 9 | 13 | ||||||||||||
 Luke Smith | 10 | 18 | 19 | 13 | 16 | 14 | 9 | |||||||||||
| 2023–24 | Alpine A523 | Renault E-Tech RE23 1.6V6tt | P | BHR | JED | RBR | GBR | BEL | NED | USA | MEX | BRA | LVG | QAT | UAE | 11 | 10th | |
 Rubén Pedreño | 11 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 10 | 10 | Ret | 15 | 7 | Ret | ||||||||
| Filip Prešnajder | 14 | 15 | 15 | 18 | ||||||||||||||
| Patrik Sipos | 15 | 12 | 17 | 16 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 14 | 13 | 13 | ||||||||
| 2025 | Alpine A524 | Renault E-Tech RE24 1.6V6tt | P | AUS | CHN | BHR | SAU | GBR | BEL | NED | USA | MXC | SAP | QAT | ABU | 27 | 9th | |
 Joni Törmälä | 20 | 10 | 10 | Ret | 15 | 16 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 17 | 11 | |||||||
| Josh Idowu | 13 | 9 | 5 | Ret | 19 | 11 | 16 | 18 | Ret | 15 | 19 | 15 | ||||||
 Piotr Stachulec | ||||||||||||||||||
| Bence Szabo-Konyi | 15 | |||||||||||||||||
| Source:[120] | ||||||||||||||||||
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