Alpine possibly without Renault power unit: Is this the alternative?
General
- Ludo van Denderen
Ever since news came out that Alpine is considering quitting Renault-designed and built power units, speculation has been rife. The latest news was that Alpine has put forward Flavio Briatore to negotiate a customer deal with Mercedes. But perhaps there is another option.
Recently, Renault - Alpine's parent company - announced that it has formed a company with Chinese Geely, called HORSE Powertrain Limited. Each of the two parties owns 50 per cent of the shares, and will work together to develop and build hybrid and internal combustion engine components and systems.
Zhou sees Geely working in Formula 1
In the press release for the announcement shortly, there was no mention of working together in Formula 1. However, Guanyu Zhou, driver of (currently) Sauber and sponsored by Geely, made a statement in Spain on Thursday afternoon that suggests this may be about to change. "They have interests in this sport, in Formula 1. I think they especially want to come back to Formula 1, but we need to see how."
Currently, Geely has a stake in Aston Martin (17 per cent) and there were already rumours that the Chinese want to take full control of the team. However, Lawrence Stroll, who has a majority stake in Aston Martin F1, has regularly expressed his reluctance to sell the team. And meanwhile, Geely has thus entered into a partnership with Renault, albeit in the field of consumer cars.
So is this a stepping stone for Geely to start developing power units for Alpine in Formula 1? Or perhaps through the aforementioned partnership in HORSE, sharing the investment with Renault? Either way, the cost of F1 power units for Renault would be reduced by half.
Zhou in the picture at Alpine
Precisely because of Geely, Zhou is said to be in the picture at Alpine, to become Esteban Ocon's replacement there. On that, Zhou said in Barcelona: "I've been working together with Geely Group already. I’ve been an ambassador. I'm very close with them."
"They still have a high interest in all the sports, in Formula 1 in general. They will try to help me for sure, which is nice to have. But then knowing they have a good connection with Alpine, it's not really making my decision of where I'm going heading off because that's what they are doing with their own road cars. I'm convinced that they will try everything for me and also myself together with my manager group. So nothing else to add really on that side of things."
This article was written in collaboration with Sophia Crothall.