Oddly enough, the only widely known book about the history of the Renault factory team in Formula 1 was written back in the mid-90s and has not been reprinted since. And after all, so much high-octane gasoline has flown away in almost thirty years, and the need has clearly ripened to return to this very curious topic, all the more so, the need has clearly ripened to take on a new chapter in this chronicle.
The history of the participation of the French concern in the World Championship is unique in its own way, because Renault entered Formula 1 several times, and then its interest suddenly weakened, and it either left altogether or remained as an engine supplier, but then invariably returned.
In the middle of the 2023 season, the team, now called Alpine F1, again found itself in a crisis situation, as almost all top managers were unexpectedly fired.
The British edition of The Race wonders if these are signs that the Renault management has once again “played enough” in Formula 1, but having not achieved the desired results, has lost patience, and what is happening now speaks of impending changes that will be even more radical?
The main problem is that there is a significant discrepancy between the ideas of the group’s top management about how its factory team should work and what results to show, and what the Alpine F1 in its current state is really capable of.
Renault still insists that the Formula 1 team is almost the main locomotive designed to promote the Alpine brand on a global scale. Those. promote sales of the only model that is produced under this brand – Alpine A110. Sales are really growing, according to official information, in 2022 they recorded a record, more than 33 percent growth.
But apparently, this is still not enough, and if the recent series of layoffs is followed by the sale of the team after some time, this is unlikely to surprise anyone much. And this can really happen if the French company considers that the marketing potential of the project in Formula 1 has been exhausted, because other tasks were not actually set for the team.
But it’s not only that. With Formula 1 growing in popularity, the market value of a championship franchise has skyrocketed, and Renault may well decide that now is the time to sell the team to at least partially offset the costs, rather than continue to invest millions and millions in it.
It should also be added that the top management of Renault constantly interfered in the work of the team, considering it just another division of the company, while Formula 1 requires special treatment and must live and function according to its own laws. If these laws are violated, nothing good will come of it, and certainly there will be no stable and high results. Then it’s better to really sell the team, especially since there are those who want to buy it.
As British expert Mark Hughes summarized, “The problems caused by the intervention of the company’s management have been going on for several years, and the reason is that the corporation is not satisfied with the insufficiently high results, although they are directly related to this intervention. It’s just kind of a vicious cycle, and these processes slow down the progress of a really good racing team.
2023-08-14 15:57:00
#Renault #sell #factory #team
