In the round-up: Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is open to supplying power units to Alpine if Renault decide to stop producing their own hybrids in 2026.
In brief
Mercedes open to Alpine deal
Renault is rumoured to be considering whether to cease production of Formula 1 power units when the next regulations arrive in 2026. Mercedes will see the number of teams it supplies fall by one when Aston Martin switch to Honda that year, and Wolff said finding a replacement fourth team could probe advantageous.
“It’s a complicated situation,” he said. “We like the thought of replacing Aston Martin with another team because of the sheer learning you’re doing. I think we’re set up as an organisation that the more power units, the better it is in terms of accelerating some of the developments or the reliability. So this is where it is.”
However he stressed talks are still at an early stage. “It didn’t go beyond the point of exchanging opinions or having exploratory discussions. I think Alpine would take a decision, do they want to continue with their Formula 1 engine programme or not? And only when they have taken that strategic decision, we would dive into our agreements. But we’re open-minded, and that’s what we have told them.”
He ruled out the possibility of a decision being taken before the summer break.Toyota lead extended second WEC practice
Toyota sat atop the times at the end of the first day of practice for the World Endurance Championship’s Six Hours of Interlagos. The number eight car set the pace with a best time of 1’25.727. The two works Ferraris were next, followed by the sole Cadillac, the two Jota Porsches and the third customer Ferrari.
The second session was extended to two-and-a-quarter hours after first practice ended early for barrier repairs. Arnold Robin crashed heavily at Descida do Lago in the number 78 GT3 Lexus A GT3 car and was able to climb out of his car.
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Firestone brings new tyre compound to Iowa (Racer)
'The move comes in reaction to a heat management issue that arose at the recent test at the 0.875-mile oval where extremely high temperatures were recorded in right-side tyre carcasses, and in the case of Team Penske’s Will Power, a heat-related failure of the right-front tyre occurred on the incredibly fast bullring.'
Interview: Is Tsunoda poised for a top seat in Formula 1? (The Paddock)
'(Helmut Marko's) just a very open person and doesn’t say any nonsense. He cares a lot about drivers, which is a good thing. At the same time, sometimes he can be challenging, but he’s just being open and honest. All in all, he’s a very open person, and he’s never hiding anything. Some drivers might take it very strictly, but I think he’s very open and helpful.'
Button: Remaining with JOTA in 2025 ‘definitely the best option’ (Sportscar 365)
'In WEC next year, I’d probably be busier than I am this year, which is a good thing because more time in the car is always a positive thing. It’s just making sure the balance is correct. Basically we go from race to race with three drivers in the car and four hours of (practice), you don’t actually get that much of driving time.'
Wisnicki targeting more points with Rodin after P5 in Silverstone feature race (Formula 3)
'To be honest it was like from like hell to heaven and then heaven to hell and then back again. It was a crazy race.'
Maloney’s Silverstone weekend in his words (Formula 2)
'When I came back to the team after the press conference, I understood why we were off the pace to win. Such small things can make a big difference in pace. The tyres are so sensitive with both wets and slicks – those small things you do can have a big impact on your performance.'
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Comment of the day
Should Pirelli be freed from producing tyres that degrade a certain way in order to chase performance?:
I find the artificial requirement around tyres so arbitrary. What if instead of tyres they chose brake discs? One company to produce them all, teams have to change them during the race to use soft and hard versions, they have to be produced to wear out during the race instead of lasting all the time. Sounds mad! But we just accept it with tyres?
Bennie Johnston>
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Pawelf1, Robert, Voaridase, Hoolyf1, Paul Sainsbury, Swh1386 and Paul Schofield!
A Practiced Observer
13th July 2024, 1:43
It would have been very nice if Andretti Global were to come in to support Renault as a second team as was the plan.
But instead, F1’s value will decrease by their and Renault’s absence.
Todfod (@todfod)
13th July 2024, 7:11
Since 2014, Mercedes has supplied more power units to the grid than anyone else, and as Toto mentioned, that was a key ingredient to how they were able to develop performance and reliability in this turbo hybrid era.
It just makes you wonder what Aston Martin and Audi are really going to achieve in 2026. Honda looks like it will be supplying just one team for now… after being out of the sport for a few years. Audi will be making their debut with little knowledge of what engine formula has really worked in F1… and will also be supplying only one team.
Gone are the days where being a solo factory customer to an engine supplier was a silver bullet. Right now it’s all about having more data to improve the engine, which can’t be done by supplying just one team on the grid. If I were Honda or Audi, I would be looking at signing up at least one more team to use their engines. Maybe target the cash strapped Haas with a cheap deal on engines or go aggressive on poaching Alpine.
Nick T.
14th July 2024, 22:27
There should be a cap of two customer teams and a requirement to supply at least one engine should a team request it. It gives an engine supplier too much of an advantage to be able to have half the teams on the grid running your engine. I guess there is the upside that it means customer teams can compete for titles, but still. Not a big fan. Even less of a fan of changing engine formula yet again.
S
13th July 2024, 8:54
Of course they are, now that Aston Martin will switch to Honda.
More customers means better economy of scale and RoI, plus the added enormous benefit of extra political power within F1.
Renault have been looking for a customer for many years to support them in producing better engines, but Mercedes saw that off by requesting to supply a 4th team (which was not allowed prior to the exception being made to do so).
Provided that 4th team wasn’t a threat to them on track, of course – which McLaren certainly weren’t at the time.
Red Bull then made absolutely sure of it, pushing for the engine freeze.
They even thought they had finally found one in Andretti – but the existing teams have seen that threat off too. Twice, already.
M2X
13th July 2024, 8:54
Is this the convergence Abiteboul was talking about, buy Merc engines?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
13th July 2024, 9:16
Aha, that could be!
Chris Horton
13th July 2024, 12:02
Losing Renault is bad for F1, we need more engine manufacturers, not less.
Personally, I feel they should be permitted to catch up.
Dex
13th July 2024, 15:58
First part – absolutely. Plus this change would be extremely humiliating for that team, and they are used to humiliating situations.
Second – absolutely not. No lex specialis for a single team. After all, they seem to be willing to give up on engine development. It’s their problem that they are incompetent (despite having competent people, but they are being governed by clowns).
Bonbonjai
15th July 2024, 12:13
Ah the French, don’t you just love the madness of it all. They have been down on HP for almost a decade, and still they have done nothing about it. Well, actually, they say they have spent millions on it, but seeing as the results have stayed he same all these years, you have to ask yourself on what have they spent all that money.
Nick T.
14th July 2024, 22:28
It is, but they weren’t even willing to try.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th July 2024, 12:57
They may be open-minded, but so far, Renault doesn’t intend to abandon their PU program with Luca De Meo making clear the rumors are unfounded, which even Gasly referred to once.
I assume the reverse button is what caused the disqualification.
paulsf1fix
13th July 2024, 16:08
It wasn’t too long ago that Mercedes were saying they didn’t make enough money out of supplying so many teams and were reviewing the situation and now they look like supplying Alpine?
Not so long ago Renault were winning races and Championships for Red Bull and Alpine won in Italy, now they don’t want to use their own engine…..Strange
MichaelN
13th July 2024, 17:18
Given the renaming and then all the leadership shuffles and such, it wouldn’t be too surprising that Renault is attempting to gracefully back out of F1. The Enstone facility is a decently mid-tier operation, and with a Mercedes PU contract it could fetch quite a nice sum.
Nick T.
14th July 2024, 22:31
Their engines were just lucky enough to be in a car good enough to make up for their mediocre engines. Did you mean Hungary, BTW? Wasn’t that Alpine’s sole fluke win. Seems you were mixing up Alpha Tauri’s fluke win with Alpine’s. Ironically, both involved two drivers that are now BEST FRIENDS!
Bonbonjai
15th July 2024, 12:13
Ah the French, don’t you just love the madness of it all. They have been down on HP for almost a decade, and still they have done nothing about it. Well, actually, they say they have spent millions on it, but seeing as the results have stayed he same all these years, you have to ask yourself on what have they spent all that money.