Renault staff to strike at plans to end F1 engine programme

Renault Motorsport employees will go on strike on Friday in protest at plans to end the company's Formula 1 engine program after next year a statement from a staff committee at the Reno Motorsport base in Bayer chatillon near Paris said the vast majority of employees would refuse to work a group of Staff have also traveled to the Italian Grand Prix where they will stage a demonstration Reno which owns the Alpine team started its F1 engine program in 1977 when the company pioneered turbo engines in the sport it has won championships with Williams Benetton and Red Bull it is widely expected that the company will abandon its F1 engine project and from 2026 buy engines from Mercedes for the Alpine team instead employees at B chatillon will be moved on to other Motorsport projects the plan is based on saving money and the fact that renault's engine is the least competitive on the grid the company has struggled ever since the inter production of hybrid engines in 2014 Alpine say dialogue with staff is important to management and will be pursued in the upcoming weeks the team added the transformation project is still being evaluated and no decision has been taken yet by Alpine's management