To get the ball rolling, Andretti had already signed a preliminary contract with Renault years ago. But that expired in March 2023. And at the moment, the French are showing no great desire to resume negotiations on a continuation. Renault, alias Alpine, does not want to get caught in the crossfire of a power struggle between the FIA and FOM.

  • bhmnscmm@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I thought the regulations required any additional teams to use Renault engines since they have no customers?

    Or does Renault just get the first option to be the supplier?

    • jorge
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      1 year ago

      If a team doesn’t have any contract with a PU supplier, they are assigned Pu with the least customers.

      If Andretti enters in 2025 and don’t have a PU deal, Renault will be forced to supply them. If they enter in 2026 or later, there are three PUs with only one team: Renault (Alpine), Honda (Aston martin) and Audi (Sauber), so any of them could be forced to supply them.

    • supermarkus@feddit.deOP
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      1 year ago

      I thought the regulations required any additional teams to use Renault engines since they have no customers?

      Making a contract ahead of time was important to show Andretti has no yolo attitude about entering the competition.

      • bhmnscmm@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Fair point. I suppose the lack of interest from Renault to renew the contract indicates they wouldn’t be required to supply Andretti.

        I wonder who they would end up going with if they do enter as a constructor.

        • Nighed@sffa.community
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          1 year ago

          It could be that they know they will be required to anyway, so no point sticking their head above the parapet by making a new deal before they have to.

          • supermarkus@feddit.deOP
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            1 year ago

            It could be that they know they will be required to anyway

            The requirement will only be there for 2025. For 2026 there will be three engine suppliers with only one team, Alpine/Renault, Audi, and Honda but Honda is GM’s IndyCar competitor, so that one is ruled out.

        • supermarkus@feddit.deOP
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          1 year ago

          I suppose the lack of interest from Renault to renew the contract indicates they wouldn’t be required to supply Andretti.

          “Renault, alias Alpine, does not want to get caught in the crossfire of a power struggle between the FIA and FOM.”

          They’ll renew the deal once it’s clear if Andretti enters or not. They want a customer. Having two fewer cars hurt their reliability.

    • evidences@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Something like that, I think the way it’s worded is actually the engine manufacturer with the least teams they supplied.