Renault CEO Luca De Meo has insisted that Alpine are not for sale, despite a turbulent 2023 season so far, which recently saw several high-profile employees receive the sack.
The Renault-owned team have failed to match their 2022 performance so far based on the Constructors’ Championship at least; however, the Enstone-based outfit do have two podiums to their name this season.
Esteban Ocon drove heroically to claim third at the Monaco Grand Prix, whilst Pierre Gasly finished in P3 at the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break.
With the exception of those two results, it’s been a season where Renault haven’t been impressed by the progress made, something which has seen them fall “behind” on their targets.
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As a result, Otmar Szafnauer was sacked as team principal at the Belgian Grand Prix, as was experienced sporting director Alan Permane.
Chief technical officer Pat Fry also departed with the duo, whilst Laurent Rossi was moved from his Alpine CEO role to elsewhere in the Renault brand.
De Meo’s actions came due to the team’s five-year plan not being fulfilled, something Williams boss James Vowles recently admitted was impossible due to the sport’s regulations always changing.
The Renault CEO seemingly agrees with this but insists that the “brutal action” was required due to a lack of progress.
“It seemed like a brutal action, and it was,” De Meo said to it.motorsport.com. “But we are behind what we set for ourselves as goals.
“Not that I forced them to set targets, but they set them themselves. They communicated them, and it didn’t work because we didn’t have the right trajectory
“You have to work on it. You can’t close the box and then talk about it again after five years. We are aware of this – we theoretically have the resources to do well with a team that is quite well-financed.”
Alpine actually started the season poorly, which led to some suggestions that the team could be sold to Andretti.
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This isn’t on the cards, with De Meo stating that F1 is “part of the Alpine project”.
“I’m disappointed because we went badly at Monza, after a podium in Zandvoort,” De Meo added. “But we’re not where we should be at all. We have to do a job of raising it bit by bit.
“And all those stories that I would like to sell the team are…F1 is part of the Alpine project like endurance and other races, so let’s move forward and we have to grow.”