More upheaval at Alpine as Renault CEO’s shock resignation announced
A major departure within the Renault Group, which owns the Alpine F1 team
Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo has announced his resignation, adding to the ongoing upheaval surrounding the Alpine F1 team.
De Meo played a key role in rebranding Renault’s F1 team as ‘Alpine’ for the 2021 season.
However, the change of name didn’t result in success on track.
Fernando Alonso’s return coincided with the Enstone-based team winning again, albeit with Esteban Ocon, at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
But Alpine haven’t bridged the gap to the top four teams.
Under de Meo’s leadership of the Renault group, there’s been several different team principals.
Cyril Abiteboul, Marcin Budkowski, Otmar Sznafauer, Bruno Famin and Ollie Oakes have all held the role of team principal since 2020.
In the past year, Flavio Briatore has returned as F1 executive advisor.
De Meo will step away from the Renault Group to “pursue new challenges outside the automotive sector”.
A statement read: “After 5 years at the head of Renault Group, Luca de Meo has announced his decision to step down and pursue new challenges outside the automotive sector.
“The Board of Directors, convened by its Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, expressed their gratitude to Luca de Meo for the turnaround and transformation of Renault Group and accepted that his departure would be effective from July 15, 2025. Luca de Meo will continue to perform his duties until that date.
“The Board of Directors has initiated the process of appointing a new Chief Executive Officer based on the already defined succession plan.
“The Board of Directors has expressed its confidence in the quality and experience of the management team to continue and accelerate Renault Group’s transformation strategy into this new phase.”
In terms of F1, Alpine and Renault’s long-term involvement is unclear.
Renault have abandoned their works engine project for 2026, with Alpine becoming a Mercedes customer team.
There have been numerous rumours that Renault wants to sell the team.
The Mercedes alliance should see an immediate boost in competitiveness on track.
Alpine sit at the bottom of the 2025 F1 constructors’ standings after 10 rounds.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
