It was widely reported that Renault had given Andretti an engine to prepare for their expected arrival into Formula 1, which could happen as soon as 2025.

Andretti are the only team to have received approval from the FIA; however, it’s the sport itself who have the final say over whether the American outfit can become an 11th team on the grid or not.

Should Andretti be successful, then Renault – who supply engines to their sports car brand Alpine – would be happy to sit down with the side and discuss a future relationship.

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Interestingly, a “preliminary contract” had already been struck between Andretti for Renault but expired on March 31, by at which point Andretti hadn’t yet received approval from the FIA.

The contract was for Renault to supply Andretti with engines, something which also suggests that General Motors – Cadillac are one of their divisions – potentially have no intent on building an F1 engine.

Alpine team principal Bruno Famin revealed that talks with Andretti had taken place in the past and that they were planning to supply the Americans with power units.

“We have indeed had discussions with Andretti,” Famin told Canal Plus. “We had already made a deal with them – a preliminary contract for the delivery of engines.”

“But that contract expired on March 31 this year. It was completely dependent on whether they could get entry into Formula 1, and they didn’t get that at the time.”

The FIA and F1 are currently at loggerheads over Andretti’s entry, with the majority of the F1 paddock concerned that Andretti’s arrival will result in them receiving less money.

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The governing body want to see F1 take on 12 teams, although only Andretti’s entry has received a green light from them.

McLaren and Alpine are the only two teams to have spoken in support of the potential 11th team, with Famin admitting that Renault would be happy to strike an engine deal with Andretti if they are approved by F1.

“We are currently not affiliated with Andretti in any way,” Famin stressed. “But once they have that infamous approval, we can start talking to them about the engine again.”

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Fernando Alonso alone was forced to retire from six races in 2022, causing the Spaniard to become phenomenally frustrated with the team and jump ship to join Aston Martin ahead of next season.

Renault, who provide the power unit for Alpine, have suggested that they will make sure that they fix the team’s reliability issues for 2023 before focusing their time and energy on designing a new power unit for 2026, when the major change in engine regulations come into effect.

Despite the power unit being the downfall of the team on numerous occasions, preventing the team from reaching their true potential last season, Renault’s engine chief Bruno Famin has claimed that the power unit itself is not the issue.

READ: Romain Grosjean in awe of Max Verstappen despite ‘wrong call’

“We have not got really major issues on the engine itself, on the ICE,” claimed Famin.

“All the other problems we had were much more on the auxiliaries side; water pump, fuel pump. And this is something we are quite optimistic that we will be able to solve for ’23.

“The water pump has been a headache all season long for us. We improved it as much as we could in ’22, but it was clearly not enough.

“It was the concept itself of the water pump we had to change, and we are going to change it for ’23. Then we really hope that the problem will be solved from next year.”

READ: Lando Norris opens up on talks with Red Bull

The future looks bright for Alpine, who with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in the cockpit of their cars next season will boast one of the most exciting driver lineups on the grid.

Both drivers have the perfect blend of experience and potential and will not want to be hindered by an unreliable power unit as both team and driver look to become regular podium contenders.

Since the rebrand of Racing Point was completed in 2021 Alpine have been on a steady rise, and with the budget cap and new regulations aiming to make the grid more competitive, it is an exciting time to be involved with the team going into 2023.

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Fernando Alonso was forced to retire from an astounding six races last season, while his teammate Esteban Ocon also failed to reach the checkered flag at two race weekends.

The driver’s downfall was mainly down to an unreliable engine, which often lost power or failed, which Renault engine boss Bruno Famin has hinted is down to the risks taken by the development team in pre-season.

“We took a lot of risks,” he claimed.

READ: Mercedes reveal upgrade which had unintended consequences

“We tried to get the engine as light as possible. We pushed the development as long as possible until just before the season. That meant we couldn’t do certain loops in the review.”

Engine manufacturers will all be looking forward to 2026, when the new major regulation changes for engines come in effect, giving teams a chance to rethink the way the design their power units.

While Famin has claimed that Renault will be looking to take full advantage of the new rules in 2026, he insists that the team will look to solve their reliability issues ahead of the 2023 season before fully switching their focus to the future.

“We first have to make sure that problems don’t recur,” he explained.

“Then we mostly switch to the development of the 2026 engine.

“We’ve been working on that for a few months already. Initially on the basis of the draft regulations. In the meantime, there is something like a final version.”

READ: ‘There was inappropriate language’: McLaren boss reveals Martin Brundle advice

Fernando Alonso’s frustration with Alpine’s engine woes in 2022 saw the Spaniard leave the team to pursue success with Aston Martin, forcing the French team to replace the 41-year-old ahead of next season.

Alpine have managed to pry the highly rated Pierre Gasly away from the Red Bull system to partner Esteban Ocon, leaving the team with one of the most exciting partnerships on the grid for next year.

When reliable, Alpine’s engine is powerful, meaning that if the team can fix their reliability issues for next season, Gasly and Ocon could have a real chance at securing podiums for a team that looked more impressive by the week in 2022.

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That collection of awards from 2022, though, is seemingly nothing compared to his garage back home, where his rapidly growing car collection is taking some serious shape.

Given that he is still only 25 years old, perhaps the likes of Lewis Hamilton could teach him a thing or two about car collections, even though, the Brit is reducing the number he owns.

Verstappen’s collection has a fascinating variation of manufacturers, suggesting that the days of drivers only being allowed to own cars made by their team are long gone.

READ: Fernando Alonso looking forward to not being Esteban Ocon’s team-mate

Michael Schumacher is reported to have owned a Porsche despite having been contracted by Ferrari to only own cars made by the FIAT group, something that has resulted in his management team denying that the seven-time World Champion ever owned the German-made vehicle.

Red Bull’s star driver boasts a collection of cars which involves four manufacturers, according to GQ Magazine.

Starting off with the most bizarre vehicle in his collection, the Ferrari Monza SP2.

Despite his side being rivals with the Italians, Verstappen appears to keep the rivalry on-track, given that he owns a £1.4 million Ferrari, of which only 499 were made.

Whether the Scuderia will be happy that one sits in the double World Champion’s garage is another matter; however, the 808bhp beast, which does 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds is an understandable addition to his collection.

Another surprising purchase of the Dutchman’s is a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, which he bought after winning the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, whilst just 18 years old!

Perhaps he’d have more Porsche’s in his garage if the company’s deal with Red Bull for 2026 went through, but for now he’ll have to settle for the one.

Unsurprisingly, the bulk of his collection comes as a result of Red Bull’s previous partnership with Aston Martin, resulting in the Dutch driver having owned four of the British manufacturer’s cars.

Verstappen owned a DB11, a Vantage, a DBS Superleggera and most notably a Valkyrie, which was, of course, designed with the help of Red Bull’s famous chief technology officer Adrian Newey.

According to reports, Verstappen traded in the DB11 for the Vantage, before doing the same for the DBS Superleggera.

However, Verstappen supposedly returned the DBS Superleggera after clocking just over 1200 miles.

The Valkyrie is by far the most outlandish and technically unbelievable car that he’s owned, especially as he called it “a formula one car on the road. It’s as close as you can get.”

The car is capable of an astonishing 1160bhp, through its naturally aspirated 6.5 litre V12, in other words, it’s juicy!

READ: Max Verstappen moves closer to race ban after Lewis Hamilton incident

Perhaps it’s not the best car to own in the UK currently based on that; however, that’s probably less of an issue when you’re one of the highest paid drivers in Formula 1.

The final car in his collection is not what you’d expect, as the Dutchman owns a Renault R.S.0.1. Verstappen came across the car during Renault’s days of producing power units for the Austrians, a partnership that ended in 2018.

The car originally was designed to have its own motorsport series, but the championship ended after two years before the car was homologated to race in GT3.

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Alonso will turn 41 later this year having entered his 20^th season in Formula 1 this year with Alpine.

After winning 32 races and two championships in his first spell in the sport, Alonso returned following a two-year hiatus in 2021, and scored points on 15 occasions, out-qualifying and out-racing team-mate Esteban Ocon on 11 occasions.

READ: Leclerc at risk of penalty as Ferrari reveal turbo and MGU-H damaged beyond repair

He also grabbed a podium in Qatar and, despite the Frenchman’s remarkable win in Budapest, finished above Ocon in the Drivers’ Championship by seven points.

The Oviedo-born racer has scored points twice in 2022, but it would certainly have been more had it not been for some wretched luck in the early going of this season, and out-qualifying the 25-year-old twice in six races this year has been plenty proof that he has barely lost a tenth of pace since his championship-winning days.

Yet there are still whispers that Alpine are ready to replace him with rookie and current Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri, who missed out on a seat in the pinnacle of motorsport this season.

Responding to those rumours previously, the double world champion asserted “if I was 25, there would not be this talk,” adding that a driver’s worth should be judged on “performance,” not “age.”

The 40-year-old also stated his intention to race in F1 for “two or three more years.”

After winning four races in F2 last year on his way to the title, Piastri is one of the most promising young prospects in racing right now, so it is little surprise that he is being linked with a seat, but there may be some confusion as to why Alonso might be in danger of being replaced given his performances.

With three outstanding drivers in the team and only two seats, de Meo admits he has a conundrum on his hands finding a solution that works for all of them.

“We love Fernando very much,” he said.

“We are going to have to find a solution for everyone, because we also have Esteban and Oscar, who are very good. We want to protect our drivers and seek an ideal solution for everyone.

“I think the work that Fernando has done and is doing is incredible.

“We combined the experience of Alonso with the youth of Ocon and now Piastri enters. It is a challenge to find a position for the three of them.

“The solution will not be 100 percent pleasant for all three of them, but we believe that we have to give each one of them an opportunity.”

With Alonso aging, a changing of the guard will naturally take place over time but, given Alonso’s current status at the team as well as his championship history with the Enstone team under their Renault guise, the Italian CEO is aware that the 40-year-old is to be treated with a great deal of respect.

“We have to protect the three drivers and also the one that they say is a super-talent in Piastri,” added de Meo.

“Fernando is 41 years old and Piastri is 21. The moment of change will come, but Fernando is a legend and we so cannot treat him as if he was just another Alpine employee.”

Alpine came into the 2022 season buoyed by the new technical regulations having used an enlarged airbox last season to accommodate their outdated engine.

This year, they developed the engine for the first time in four years, and the anticipation was that they might finally start consistently competing for solid points and even podiums.

This has not materialised, but de Meo maintains that patience is a virtue, and believes that Alpine can still be championship contenders in time.

“Nobody knows when you are going to be champion, you have to see the progression,” explained the 54-year-old.

“Three years to set up a competitive team is normal. We saw that with everyone, including Red Bull or Mercedes, that it takes a while.”

Alonso’s compatriot and former F1 driver Pedro de la Rosa, who raced for Arrows, Jaguar, Sauber and HRT, believes that Alonso has earned the right to choose his own destiny, so is surprised de Meo has not given the 32-time race winner his full assurance.

“I was surprised. The question, for me, is whether Fernando would like to continue, not the other way around,” he said.

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“The plan in Formula 1 is the medium-long term, otherwise there are no results. The way for ‘El Plan’ to work is by having Fernando on the team for several years.”

Alonso’s illustrious career has also seen him race for McLaren and Ferrari, for whom he won a total of 11 races but sadly, never claimed the championship with either the Woking or Maranello side.

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The engine freeze is one of many alterations made to the technical regulations this season, with an E10 fuel blend – made up of 90 percent fossil fuels and 10 percent ethanol – brought in to help Formula 1’s sustainability push.

The pinnacle of motorsport is aiming to become carbon neutral by 2030, and another part of this ambitious plan is to cease development on the power units.

READ: Tost details how Vettel and Verstappen’s early years in F1 differ to Tsunoda’s debut season

ICE development has already been suspended until the end of 2025, and electrical components will also have a freeze imposed on them halfway through the 2022 season.

Ferrari’s engine and the Honda-manufactured Red Bull power unit have looked especially strong thus far this season.

The Red Bulls were around 11kph faster than Mercedes on the straights in Saudi Arabia, while Ferrari were noted as the third quickest in the flat-out sections ahead of the Renault-powered Alpine cars.

It must be emphasised that part of these deficits relate directly to set-up; Ferrari ran a significantly higher downforce setup in Jeddah, while fundamental flaws in Mercedes’ chassis and floor is what is ultimately costing them performance.

Subtracting aerodynamic efficiency from the equation, Tombazis calculates that every manufacturer on the grid is operating at roughly the same level.

“None of the four manufacturers have problems at the moment, the performance is similar,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

He confirmed that there is an allowance for any manufacturer that has been struggling for reliability in the interests of fairness.

READ: ‘Completely wrong’: Binotto fires back at claim Ferrari had unfair advantage on 2022 car

“When we discussed introducing the freeze, we determined that, if one was in difficulty, everyone would engage in good faith to discuss how to solve the problem, perhaps allowing for some development. There is no interest in sentencing someone to be left behind for four years,” he added.

Freezing developments on any components for a long period of time is unusual, but Tombazis reiterates the ecological responsibility that F1 has.

“It’s not ideal to freeze engines for a long time, but we had to do it because it would have been unsustainable for the manufacturers to develop these units and the ones that will be introduced in 2026,” he explained.

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The Australian driver joined McLaren from the French works team at the end of 2020, and he has been comprehensively outpaced by Lando Norris at most of the grand prix contested so far this campaign.

READ: Mazepin Hopeful For Points Next Year But Wary Rival Teams ‘Aren’t Sleeping’

In an interview this week, Ricciardo said he is still trying to solve the puzzle of the “peculiar” McLaren MCL35M.

“I knew straight away it was a different beast,” he said in an interview with The Race.

“I’d be lying if I said the Renault wasn’t a different beast to the Red Bull, so they are all different. But there’s certainly some things where this car is slightly more peculiar. That’s the puzzle that I’m still trying to solve.

“But every car will respond and react differently, and this one’s got a couple of other things, I guess,” he added.

Meanwhile, Andrea Stella, McLaren’s executive director of racing, admitted that their car requires “special adaptation” and outlined the strengths and weaknesses of their 2021 challenger.

READ: Red Bull Remain Optimistic Despite ‘Huge Bad Luck’ For Verstappen & Perez

“What we kept is some characteristics of our car that make it very special to drive, which we see with the experience

Daniel is going through because he came from the opposite end in terms of how you would like to drive a Formula 1 car,” Stella said.

“Our car requires some special adaptation, while we work to improve this aspect.

“It’s no secret that our car is good in high-speed corners and may not be the best car when you have to roll speed in mid-corner.

“We are trying to adjust some of the characteristics to make it a little bit more manageable to drive.

“At the same time, the important thing to deliver is aerodynamic efficiency, even if we couldn’t necessarily improve in terms of balance and [driver] exploitation of the car.

“We are relatively happy with the rate of improvement of aerodynamic efficiency that we have been able to achieve in early races and hopefully a little bit more will be coming in the next races,” he added. 

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