AUDI-BP DEAL HINTS AT RENAULT’S 2026 DEPARTURE

The announcement of the deal done between Audi and the BP/Castrol group that the two companies will be partners in the development of the German Power Unit with the British company’s fuel and lubrificants from the start of 2026 is very bad news for Renaults’ motorsport engine department based in Viry-Châtillon.

For the last few years, BP/Castrol have been Alpine’s fuel and oil partners and the two companies have started to work together on the new generation of fuel and lubrificants that will be required from 2026, when clean fuels will be mandatory and, according to most engine experts, the biggest performance differenciator between Power Units.

The fact BP/Castrol has now announced it will be working with Audi indicates the British company won’t be renewing its partnership with Alpine, so the development of its products to specifically suit the 2026-spec Power Unit that has finally started to run on Viry-Châtillon’s dynos will stop.

And unless Alpine has already forged a new partnership with a different fuel and oil supplier, like Total Energies – the company that took over from Elf – that means Flavio Briatore’s plan to cut the French link to the team is well under way.

According to French sources, the decision has already been made but will only be officially communicating once an engine deal is signed with Mercedes, for the 2026-2030 period, with Viry-Châtillon focused on the development of Alpine’s WEC program and on Nissan’s Formula E program as well.

Audi and BP/Castrol have worked together in the past, with the groundbreaking Audi Quattro, that opened a new door in rallying at the start of the 1980s being their first project together, leading to a couple of World titles in 1983 and 1984.

After that, the two companies continued to work together in many different categories – Endurance, Rallycross, Formula E and the DTM – so it comes as no surprise to anyone that the partnership is renewed for Formula 1.

Nevertheless, this is another strong indication that Renault’s own 2026 Power Unit project is about to be shelved and there are rumors in France that further dyno tests of the first complete engine have been postponed for now, following an order from above to freeze the dynamic development of the new Power Unit, while the design process is still going ahead, as the French engineers wait for a final decision about this project.

Another consequence of Alpine dropping its own Power Units and buying them from Mercedes is likely to be the need to acquire gearbox technology from the German manufacturer, as the timelines for the design and manufacturing of that mechanical element are extremely long.

If a final decision is only taken in a couple of months, at the end of the European summer, the most likely scenario is that Alpine will be buying Power Units and transmissions from Mercedes, at least for 2026, cutting even further the French team’s manufacturing capabilities and leading to quite a few redundancies being made in the Enstone factory.

Photo by LAT Images

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