(Monza) Around a hundred Alpine employees protested peacefully on Friday in Monza during the Formula 1 Italian GP to denounce the planned end in 2026 of the production in France of the engine for the Franco-British team’s single-seaters, AFP noted.
Employees of the Viry-Châtillon factory, near Paris, who made a journey of around twelve hours in two buses to reach the Italian circuit, located near Milan (north), took their places at the edge of the track in two separate stands to watch the free practice sessions of the Italian Grand Prix, 16e round of 24 of the F1 season.
Wearing white T-shirts with the Alpine logo, an arrowed A, and the slogan #ViryOnTrack, they held up a banner asking to be allowed to continue developing the 2026 engine, which will give pride of place to the electric part, and to “save 50 years of French Formula 1”, before recalling the 12 world constructors’ titles won by the Renault brand, owner of Alpine.
“We managed to show ourselves, to reach the media and we managed to relay the press release published on Thursday. From my point of view, it’s a very positive day, perhaps more than we had hoped for,” Patrick Gabaud, elected to the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) of the Viry-Châtillon site (Essonne), who had made the long trip to Monza, told AFP.
“We respected the spirit of the mobilization by being very peaceful and we hope that this will have a positive effect. Whatever happens, this trip will remain a beautiful human adventure that unites us and will serve us in our daily relationships,” he added.
In total, 217 of the 334 employees at the Viry-Châtillon site, who assured that they had received the support of several politicians (mayor, MP, president of the Departmental Council in particular), were also on strike this Friday to denounce the decision of Luca De Meo, CEO of Renault, to buy an engine for the Alpine F1 single-seaters from 2026, probably from Mercedes, rather than continuing to manufacture it.
“80% of employees who could have gone on strike were on strike. We wanted to send a message in a constructive and peaceful manner, and show Mr De Meo that the F1 2026 project has its place in Viry. Without F1, there is no longer any technological excellence in skills and we risk a drain of our talents,” Olivier Loret, secretary of the CSE, explained to AFP.
“We hope to get a response from the CEO, who has not yet responded to any of our letters, in order to begin a dialogue with him,” he added.
Renault, which has been designing and manufacturing its own F1 engines at its Viry-Châtillon site for 47 years, informed staff representatives at the end of July of its desire to transform the plant, although there is no threat to jobs. The final decision is expected to be made by September 30.