"We will not sell even a part of this thing," says Renault Group boss, Luca de Meo of struggling Alpine F1 team.
Whatever way you put it, this is gradually turning into a complete and uttter sh*t show for the French team, which currently sits ninth in the standing with 2 points.
Hardly a day seems to go by without some further calamity, be it high profile departures or two drivers clearly at war.
Despite the assurances of all involved that all is fine, it is widely speculated that at least two of the current teams are considering their futures, looking for a way out, hence the increasing demands for Andretti to buy one of said existing teams as opposed to starting from scratch.
Then again, other than an obvious desire to do things their own way, Andretti, like most, is probably balking at the sort of numbers being thrown around at present, especially when the likes of Zak Brown are claiming that Williams, for example, is worth $1.5bn.
According to speculation, one of the teams that might potentially be up for sale is Alpine, however, Renault Group boss, Luca de Meo insists that there is absolutely no way that the French outfit will throw in the towel.
"I want to make this very clear. There is no way we are going to give up," he tells Autocar. "It's not my style," he continues. "We will not sell even a part of this thing.
"We don't need the money," he adds. "I've had people making offers left and right, then talking in the press about it. But we're not interested. It would be stupid and I won't do it."
The most recent high-profile departure was operations director, Rob White, who, like many of those that left before him, had been with the team for many years, in his case 20.
"There will be more," warns de Meo, who, while insisting that the team has been "improving a little bit" of late, claims the root of its problems go back several years.
"When we began the hybrid era, our engine didn't perform," he admits. "We had been world champions with Red Bull but with hybrid, things went wrong. Even the engine we developed in 2021 had a 0.2sec to 0.5sec disadvantage every lap. And this year we've screwed up with the car. If you combine everything, we're up to 1.5sec from where we need to be.
"For this year and 2025, we will try with the current set-up, then push to get things right for the next cycle. That's the challenge. But we will do everything necessary to be a competitive team."
"I expect a much better performance from the team," he admits. "We are not here to be P16. We should be in the mix as often as possible. Sometimes you're second, sometimes you're fifth, but that should be our level."
De Meo believes that to be winning in F1, three elements are required.
"The first is a quality team of top-notch people," he says. "The second is racing rage, an obsession to win. The third is collaboration and trust throughout the team, a spirit of cooperation that makes things seem easier.
"Alpine should be one of the teams in F1 with the broadest shoulders," he continues, "because it has the backing of the Renault Group. I don't think we deserve to be a top team at present, but we're not in F1 to be tourists so we need to work hard.
"Sure, we've made mistakes," he adds. "It happens. But I think we're right to put F1 at the core of Alpine, and to paint the car blue to represent a distinctive automotive culture. This brand is totally legitimate because it was always in competition. But it can do much better, and I don't want to miss the opportunity."
It was the sale of 24% of Alpine's Enstone facility to Redwing Capital Partners in 2023, that first suggested the team may eventually be put up for sale - after all, Renault has history - but de Meo insists that this is simply the way of things today.
"These guys are experts at developing sports franchises," he says. "We're car people, engineers and technicians, but they know how to take something like the Dallas Cowboys from a value of $1 billion to $8bn in just a few years. They know business and that's why we need them.
"I've never said no to investment," he adds. "But the thing is they need to bring good ideas."
sign in