‘Consistently disappointing’ 11-point team told they’re offering little to Formula 1 right now

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The current Formula 1 world championship standings can broadly be split into three sections. Now that Mercedes have made a breakthrough with their car, there’s a distinct top four.

Mercedes’ run of three wins in four races has closed the gap on Red Bull to 143 points, and it could be significantly smaller by the end of the season. They started the year battling Aston Martin, but they’ve now opened up a near-200-point cushion on the Silverstone outfit.

Aston head up a group of three midfield teams also featuring RB and Haas. Lawrence Stroll’s squad look almost certain to finish fifth in the standings, but there’s a tight battle for sixth behind.

Then comes the bottom three, only one of whom has scored double digits this season. Alpine started the year as F1’s slowest team, and while they’ve improved their performance, they’ve still only collected 11 points.

That puts them five ahead of Williams, while Sauber prop up the order as the only team yet to get off the mark. They seem to be almost running down the clock until Audi take full control in 2026.

Edd Straw slams Alpine and says another team could bring more to F1

Speaking on The Race F1 YouTube channel, journalist Edd Straw issued a stinging verdict on Alpine. He suggested that another manufacturer could bring more to F1 than Renault.

Straw was also critical of Renault’s previous pledge to compete with the top teams on 80% of the resources. He says there’s ‘zero excuse’ for such an approach in the current F1 landscape.

“It’s hard to imagine somebody not offering more to Formula 1 than Renault has,” he said. “Okay, they’ve invested a lot and having a manufacturer in is good. But they’ve been consistently disappointing, so the bar’s not as high as it might have to be for adding value.”

“It’s the greatest of red flags in Formula 1 team ownership, where they try and make a virtue of having less resources. Zero excuse for it under the current cost-cap rules.”

What Alpine’s next team name could be amid Renault sale talk

Alpine have agreed a deal with Mercedes to buy their engines, likely from 2026. This marks the end of their works operation, and many see it as the prelude to a full sale.

Significantly, the team at Viry had already begun working on their 2026 power unit. The process had to start earlier than usual given the upcoming changes to the regulations.

This could interest new teams looking to enter Formula 1. They’d be able to buy not only Alpine’s existing infrastructure, but an almost ready-made engine.

Hitech are one of the teams who could express an interest. Their founder, Oliver Oakes, has just replaced Bruno Famin as Alpine team principal.

As such, they could become ‘Hitech-Mercedes’ by 2026. They aren’t the only contender, with Andretti exploring a deal to buy Alpine too.