06/10/2024
NEWS STORY
Shades of 'the Luca doth protest too much', as Renault CEO insists that Alpine F1 operation is not for sale.
The claim comes days after Renault announced that it would be withdrawing from the sport (again) at the end of 2025, insisting that the reason for the decision was not financial but essentially that it didn't believe it would be competitive under the latest rules overhaul.
Whatever the reason for the decision, the fact remains why would Renault want to withdraw as an engine manufacturer yet continue to bankroll a team now using engines supplied by a major rival (Mercedes)?
Speaking to L'Equipe, Luca de Meo insists that the team is not for sale.
"I won't sell, I'm not stupid," he says. "Being in F1 is essential for the Alpine brand. We are in a closed club. It brings credibility for the brand among motor racing fans. We don't need the money."
Asked about claims that Flavio Briatore was brought back on board to prepare for the sale, he replies: "I read that he was tasked with packaging the project to eventually sell the team. It's completely false.
"Every fortnight I get calls from financiers, eccentrics, who want to enter F1," he adds. "They know that after 2026 it will be much more expensive."
In terms of the decision to withdraw as a manufacturer, the Italian insists that it makes more sense to buy-in Mercedes engines for $20m (£15m) a year as opposed to the development of its own power unit which he claims work out at between $220.5 (£168m) and $275.7m (£210m) a year.
He also claims that having chassis and engine production in different countries is an issue, though this hasn't hampered the likes of Red Bull-Honda.
"At Enstone they are very independent, used to working under different colours. I should have re-grouped everything but it would have been in England. Hard, no?," he says.
He also believes that fans are more interested in drivers and teams as opposed to the engines, thus making Renault, despite its vast investment, "invisible" and therefore unattractive to sponsors, this from the CEO of a company widely regarded as one of the most innovative to ever grace the sport.
"Two more years like that and the project would have deflated completely," he says, believing that success with Mercedes engines will make Alpine more visible.
It's like Lou Reed's painter friend Donald - thought to actually be singer-songwriter John Mellencamp - tells him, as recalls in the song Last Great American Whale on the superb New York album: "Stick a fork in their ass and turn 'em over, they're done!"