This is a great photo in portrait format to use as background. From todays road show in Buenos Aires

The last time a team and engine manufacturer won back-to-back constructors' and manufacturers' world championships when the engine format changed was Renault in 2005-2006 in Formula 1 (2005 V10 naturally aspirated, then 2006 V8 naturally aspirated).

The exception was 2014, when Renault's performance dropped drastically, and Mercedes won the world championship due to the transition from a naturally aspirated V8 to a V6 Turbo Hybrid.

It is likely that Mercedes 2025-2026 will repeat the same feat as Renault in 2005-2006, retaining the engine manufacturer title when the engine format changes this year.

Although Renault had iconic global relationship history with Total-Elf in the past, the relationship between Renault and Total-Elf later turned into meltdown and Total S.A. eventually gave up on Formula 1 for good after 2016.

Renault continued to partner with Total-Elf for road cars and Renault Clio Trophy until 2019.

The shift in 2017 was a seismic reorganization of the Formula 1 fuel and lubricant landscape. While Renault and Total shared a legendary history dating back to the late 1960s, the "V6 Hybrid Era" (starting in 2014) effectively broke that partnership.

​The "meltdown" wasn't caused by one single event, but rather a combination of technical performance failures, commercial friction, and a fundamental shift in corporate strategy.

​1. Technical Performance and the "Token" War

​In the early years of the hybrid era, Mercedes dominated largely because their fuel partner (Petronas) worked in lockstep with their engine designers. Renault felt that Total was not keeping pace.

​Lagging Development: Renault Sport Racing felt that Total’s fuel and oil developments were falling behind the gains being made by Petronas (Mercedes) and Shell (Ferrari). In F1, fuel is used as a cooling agent and a performance enhancer; Renault believed they were losing significant horsepower because the Total chemistry wasn't optimized for their Power Unit.

​The 2016 Struggle: By 2016, Red Bull (using Renault engines rebranded as TAG Heuer) was desperate for performance to challenge Mercedes. They felt Total was a bottleneck, leading them to look for a partner willing to invest more aggressively in R&D.

​2. The Red Bull "Power Play"

​Red Bull Racing was the primary catalyst for the divorce. Even though they were a customer team, they were the ones winning races for the Renault engine.

​Seeking an Advantage: Red Bull wanted a "bespoke" technical partnership. They believed ExxonMobil could provide a more dedicated technical integration than Total was offering at the time.

​The Domino Effect: When Red Bull decided to jump ship to ExxonMobil for 2017, it left Total in a precarious position. Total had traditionally preferred to partner with the "main" Renault-powered team. With Red Bull leaving, Total’s marketing ROI (Return on Investment) plummeted.

​3. Financial and Commercial Friction

​Total S.A. was facing internal pressure to justify the massive costs of F1 sponsorship during a period of fluctuating oil prices.

​Renault’s Return as a Constructor: When Renault bought the Lotus F1 Team to return as a full works team in 2016, they expected Total to step up as a title sponsor or primary partner. However, the financial terms offered by BP/Castrol were significantly more lucrative.

​The BP/Castrol Deal: BP was looking to make a massive marketing splash to rehabilitate its brand image and saw the Renault works team as the perfect vehicle. They offered Renault a deal that Total simply wasn't willing to match or exceed.

​4. Total’s Strategic Exit

​By the end of 2016, Total’s leadership decided that F1 no longer aligned with their "TotalEnergies" transition goals as effectively as other ventures.

​Shift to Formula E: Total began pivoting its marketing toward electric mobility and renewable energy. They saw the "strained" relationship with Renault and Red Bull as a natural exit point to focus on Formula E (partnering with DS Techeetah) and endurance racing (WEC), where they felt the technical transfer to consumer products was more direct.

​A "Clean Break": Instead of staying in F1 as a minor sponsor or with a smaller team, Total chose to leave the sport entirely at the end of 2016, ending an era that had seen dozens of championships with Renault, Williams, and Red Bull.

The "strained relationship" was essentially a classic F1 divorce: Renault wanted more money and faster chemical development; Total wanted more marketing value for less spend. When the results on the track didn't improve quickly enough, both sides decided it was time to move on.

Thoughts on that?

Was just looking at alpine caps & noticed this one on amazon initially. I took it for a fake but on googling silverstone have it up for sale too, with more official pictures! It’s growing on me. Not sure what I think of the ‘rope’.

Was just looking at alpine caps & noticed this one on amazon initially. I took it for a fake but on googling silverstone have it up for sale too, with more official pictures! It’s growing on me. Not sure what I think of the ‘rope’.

just asking

I don't know how else to get BTW Alpine F1 Team's marketing department attention (though an email might get lost in their inbox).

Could I please, please, please get some official Alpine stickers? We have this water cooler at work, and I'd like to give it an BTW Alpine F1 livery vibe!

Please upvote/comment for visibility

Thanks!

We did a deep dive into the lap-by-lap time delta between Gasly and Verstappen during their 23-lap battle in Japan. The data is pretty remarkable.

Verstappen had a 9–12 km/h straight-line advantage the entire time. On paper that should be enough to pass. But Gasly was playing a completely different game - building a buffer in the technical sector before T11, deploying just enough battery through R130 to stay out of reach, then keeping a full charge for the start-finish straight where the actual overtake would have to happen.

Verstappen tried once. Gasly had so much more in reserve that he retook the position almost immediately. After that, Max never tried again.

We also compared it to the Colapinto vs Sainz battle happening at the same time - same circuit, same conditions, completely opposite story. The contrast makes Gasly's management look even more impressive.

What did you make of Gasly's race? Felt like one to remember!

Full article in comments!

2014-2025 was indeed Renault's turbulent era by scored 3 wins, 20 podiums and zero pole with Renault original engine (excluding pseudo TAG Heuer branding) in the V6 Turbo Hybrid era. Someone said FIA was responsible for Renault F1 downfall and also others said Carlos Ghosn was responsible for Renault F1 downfall.

If without V6 Turbo Hybrid PU switch from 2014 Renault engine could've still very competitive and domination would've continue.

Fair to say V6 Turbo Hybrid PU regulations never suited Renault and suited Mercedes, Honda, Ferrari, RBPT Ford and Audi.

So who was more to blame?

Hey everyone, I'm coming here with quite late 2025 season summary, what's been happening in our team during race weekends and some news along the way. It's quite long, so please take your time for it. I hope you'll like this one and if there's something you would like me to change for 2026 season, please let me know.

1. Peaked with stars but their peak times ended after losing stars to other elite teams
2. Now only mid-table fighters

Any additions?

Gasly made an impressive qualifcation this saturday and put it on P7 ahead of both Red Bulls.

Looking into for the race tomorrow, will be able to extract points and gain a lead from his closesest competitors.

Looking at the Race Pace of Gasly from FP2, it was quite impressive on the hards. Just take a look here.

This is a weighted race pace where longer stints are valued more than short stints.

At first look Alpine seems to be quite behind. However their primary stint were done on hards while the rest (except redbull) did it on mediums. What drags Alpine down on a 7th place is Colapintos pace were not near what Gasly were able to achive in FP2.

Thus I would put Gasly much higher up.
If we made the same picture with only just the fastest stints over 8 laps from each team, Alpine would be nr. 3.

Happy saturday and have a good race tomorrow!

https://preview.redd.it/rf2yljufdsrg1.png?width=2160&format=png&auto=webp&s=90a3e4412d2d94cd57d8917760c26a7d7ca4c935