Alpine is undergoing a major transformation, reshaping its Formula 1 team to aim for long-term success. One of the biggest changes is the decision to stop developing Renault’s iconic F1 engine and instead use Mercedes power units from 2026. This ends a 50-year tradition at Renault’s Viry-Châtillon headquarters, a move pushed by Renault CEO Luca de Meo and Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore.

“It’s a tough call, but one we believe positions us better for the future,” Briatore explained, highlighting the need to cut costs and compete with top teams like McLaren and Mercedes.

To support this shift, Alpine will also use Mercedes gearboxes in 2026. Team Principal Oliver Oakes, who joined in August, said this change will help the team focus during the major 2026 rule updates.

"It gives us a bit of headroom during that regulation change to sort of have one less thing to worry about," Oakes explained to Autosport.

However, this is only a temporary move. The team plans to return to using its own gearboxes from 2027.

"It's just purely balancing resource for that one season in 2026, and everybody in the team, they've designed, manufactured and built and raced a great gearbox. And it's clear to see the current results as well," Oakes added, praising the team’s current performance.

Alpine’s new leadership, including Oakes and Technical Director David Sanchez, has brought fresh ideas to the team. Oakes stressed the importance of balancing 2025 and 2026 development, explaining that Alpine won’t fully sacrifice results next season, unlike some rivals.

"[Balancing 2025 and 2026], that's the daily topic at the moment, I think because some teams have been quite vocal about sacrificing 2025.

"How much of that you believe or not, I don't know. Maybe they're sort of trying to move some pressure off themselves because most teams know already in December where they're looking for 2025. And you wonder when teams come out with comments like that...

"From my side, we want to have a good '25. We're pretty humble that that's not going to be easy because there's quite a lot of carryover from this year.

"And we know we'd love to go more to town on development and balancing resource for 2026, but I guess everybody's going to be judged the next three years; I think people will judge us on he job we did 23-24-25-26-27 as a period of time rather than just in that moment in F1.

"I'm new in the job, but I find it quite interesting reading stuff online that a lot of people don't take into context, the sort of background and the build-up to things.

"And the situation we were in as a team, it wasn't just because of the winter. Things were signed off way earlier. And I think it's always important to look at the global view."