Alpine in talks to supply Andretti with engines if they join F1 - Reports

Alpine is reportedly in talks with Andretti Autosport to supply them with their Renault engines if they successfully make their F1 debut.

Bruno Famin, vice president of Alpine, revealed to Motorsport earlier that the team is in contact with Andretti to become their engine supplier. Currently, the French team is the only one on the entire grid that is powered by Renault engines. Andretti Autosport is looking forward to joining the F1 grid as the 11th team with General Motors and Cadillac from the earliest possible season.

Andretti's application to enter the sport was approved by the FIA earlier. Now, approval from the Formula One Management (FOM) is awaited.

Famin revealed that the "pre-contract" with the team has expired. But with Andretti's F1 move progressing, they are in talks again to become their potential engine supplier.

Famin said (as quoted by SI.com):

“What I said last time is that we had a pre-contract. The pre-contract has expired. Factually right now we don't have any commitment or any legal commitment with them, but we're happy to talk to them and to see what we can do together."

As mentioned earlier, Alpine is the only team on the grid that uses Renault engines. Renault remains the owner of the team despite the rebranding in 2021.

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Alpine's technical director reveals the weakness in their car

After a long season, the French outfit finished sixth in the standings with 120 points, behind Aston Martin with 280. The gap between the two teams is visible, and as Matt Harman, their technical director revealed, it is because of the narrow operating window of the car.

Most teams develop cars that are best performed under certain conditions. For example, Red Bull had earlier revealed that despite their dominating season, the low-speed corners seemed to be their weakness. Similarly, Harman told Motorsport that the operating window for the Alpine was rather narrow.

"I think its weakness is it needs to operate in a very narrow window," he said. "And if you go to a circuit where it's has a particular surface condition or a high level of ride content or something, then we can find ourselves in a position where it's more of a struggle, and the drivers don't enjoy the car."

Heading into the 2024 season, the team will certainly be looking forward to posing a challenge to their competitors and getting to the top of the midfield, if they can't get out of it at least.

Alpine recently finalized a €200 million deal with Otro Capital, which has secured a 24% ownership in the team.