F1 News
Alpine with Mercedes engines? Remarkable: McLaren are all for it
- Ludo van Denderen
Flavio Briatore is not to be envied. The recently appointed advisor to the Alpine F1 team has to (co)decide who will be the second driver alongside Pierre Gasly and, moreover, he is expected to take a long-term view of the French racing team's F1 adventure. The key question: should Alpine continue using their own Renault engines or continue as a customer team?
It is no secret that Mercedes have been asked about the possibility of buying engines from the Germans for Alpine. Toto Wolff, the CEO of the Mercedes F1 Team, is not unwilling in principle. The Austrian believes that with an additional customer team, there would be more resources to improve the power unit faster. But, Wolff argued, it is up to Alpine to tie the knot.
McLaren see no problem with Alpine-Mercedes
One of Mercedes' customer team are McLaren. With a Mercedes power unit, Lando Norris won the Miami Grand Prix earlier this season, and the British team's car is arguably the fastest on the grid currently. In any case, Zak Brown, McLaren's CEO, does not think it is a problem that Alpine will also have access to Mercedes engines and as a result is likely to become stronger.
"What's good for Mercedes is as good for McLaren as far as we're concerned," the American says. "They've been an awesome partner to work with. So if it adds value to their power unit proposition, then we're all for it."
Brown advises that Alpine should make a decision about joining forces with Mercedes as soon as possible: "I think the sooner you can make a decision on any decision that you make, it's just better time for preparations. I would imagine they'll probably want to make a decision before the summer break to give them as much lead time to learn about the power unit and ways of working."