Alpine confirms peaceful protest at the Italian Grand Prix

Formula One's French-British outfit Alpine has confirmed that team members of the Viry-Chatillon engine facility are planning a "peaceful protest" for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

It has emerged earlier this year that French manufacturer Renault that runs the Alpine outfit is evaluating to potentially abandon work on its 2026 power unit and instead shift Alpine to become a customer team.

Alpine has gone through key changes recently, with former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore having signed as Executive Advisor. The Italian was issued a lifetime ban from taking part in F1 for overseeing the Crashgate scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, but that was later overturned.

Alpine was bought by Renault in 1973, and the French manufacturer announced at the end of 2020 that its F1 entry will run under the Alpine banner from 2021 onwards. Renault has remained present in F1 as an engine marque, but it has only supplied Alpine with its power units.

With F1 set to introduce a heavily-revised engine formula from 2026, the sport's engine manufacturers - Ferrari, Mercedes, Honda, Renault and Red Bull Powertrains - have been busy with designing of the new units. However, it is believed that Renault might abandon its F1 power unit project, and Alpine could sign a customer engine deal.

Initially, it was believed that Renault is interested to sign a contract with Ferrari to supply its F1 entry, but Mercedes has emerged as other potential engine manufacturer for the Enstone-based outfit.

Although the decision has not been confirmed, staff at the Viry facility have raised their concerns about losing connection to Formula One. The French manufacturer is believed to keep their staff and relocate them, using their talent and know-how in designing alternative engines.

However, the staff is not delighted with the plans, and they announced their intention to stage a protest at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix during free practice. Groups of employees will be spread across two grandstands and display a banner.

They will wear white T-shirts bearing the Alpine logo and the message #ViryOnTrack and black armbands and they have requested members of the Alpine team wear the armbands. Furthermore, employees at Viry-Châtillon will go on strike in solidarity.

Confirming the strike, Alpine issued a statement, noting that “we are aware of some activities planned this weekend from staff of Viry-Chatillon engine facility.

"We understand from their communication these will be peaceful protests and will not impact team operations. The transformation project is still being evaluated and no decision has been taken yet by Alpine’s management.

"The dialogue, which opened since the project was presented to the Viry employee representatives in July, is important to Alpine’s management and will be pursued in the upcoming weeks.”