The Alpine Formula 1 team's owner Renault says its partnership with minority shareholder Otro Capital was "not successful", which is why it wants to bide its time to find a future partner that is better aligned with its ambitions.

Otro has been looking to offload a 24% stake it has in the Alpine F1 team, and there was interest from a host of parties - including Mercedes and former Red Bull boss Christian Horner - in taking over the shares.

However, Renault has a right of veto until September over any change of ownership.

So, when Mercedes elected to pull out of negotiations with Otro in May, Renault intervened to stop all discussions over the sale for now.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Race at the British Grand Prix, Renault CEO Francois Provost said that the French manufacturer was fully committed to a long-term future in F1, and the priority was ensuring that whoever takes over the shares is the right fit.

And, with Otro having no say in the day-to-day running of Alpine, Provost said this was why there was no critical need to sort things quickly.

"We manage the team," he said. "Otro has no right, and no added value, to help us to operate. So we are fully responsible.

"We are doing the job. The partnership with Otro was not successful.

"I think we are capable to assess together this. They want to sell, they will get the good benefits.

"They need our agreement to sell, and we'll do this maybe sooner or later, but from an operation standpoint, [there is] no impact, and this is for me the most important."

Renault is understood to have been interested in the potential benefits that could have come with involvement from Mercedes, while the arrival of someone such as Horner could have delivered personal benefits.

What Provost said was essential is being sure that whoever comes in does bring added value.

Provost added: "For me, there is no urgency. There are two principles. The first one is Renault will keep the control. We do not intend to sell shares.

"The second principle is, if ever Otro sells the shares, I want to be sure that with the new one [minority shareholder] we have some intimacy, common goal, and common interest. So it's why I'm not in a hurry."

Renault's commitment to F1

Provost arrived at Renault as its CEO in July 2025 shortly after his predecessor Luca de Meo had departed to join Kering, the luxury group that owns Gucci.

The change of leadership prompted questions about whether Renault's F1 plans would remain in place, or whether Provost would look for a change of direction.

He was clear, however, that F1 remains a core pillar for Renault's motorsport activities and that there was no consideration for turning its back on grand prix racing.

"F1 is by far the biggest sporting event, all categories included," he said.

"You have more than 800 million followers, an additional 100 million a year, and a lot of young people everywhere in the world.

"So when we have the chance to be one of the veterans there, it is common sense that we need to stay and we need to recover the position I think we deserve."

Provost said that his target was to bring some stability back to Alpine, which has been impacted over recent years by several changes of management and finished 2025 at the bottom of the constructors' championship.

It has made a better start to 2026 and is fifth in the constructors' championship, albeit only one point ahead of Racing Bulls.

"We want to stay in F1," he said. "This for sure will not change the strategy.

"The issue now is to recover, because the [Alpine] team was destabilised. The performance was really bad.

"So it's why I set as a unique first priority for the team to stabilise and set new strong foundations. This is our objective for this year."

Provost said the target for now was to score points at every race, which he believed would set some "strong foundations" for the future.

The priority for him was setting the right direction of travel rather than hitting milestones in a rush.

"For me the most important is not the speed of the recovery, but is robustness of the recovery," he said. "I think we are progressing.

"We know also we stay humble, we know also what we have still to do. So my unique priority is to set strong foundations this year on the performance side, on the sponsorship side."

No works engine U-turn

Provost arrived at Renault in the wake of a bold call to shut down its F1 works engine project in favour of a customer partnership with Mercedes.

A potential move to cheaper V8 engines in the future could offer an opportunity for it to resurrect an engine programme, but Provost said this is not on its radar.

"I support the V8 direction, but it's not because it could be an opportunity for Renault to come back as an engine manufacturer," he said. "It's not our strategy.

"We can never say never. Yeah. But again, my unique priority is short-term recovery, and strong foundation from this to set up a vision for the team, a new ambition. This is my unique priority, not to come back with an engine."

Provost said he was fully supportive of a planned move by the FIA and F1 to switch to V8 engines from 2031 at the latest.

"I would like to keep a slice of electrification, because all our customers worldwide, they want electrification, and as Renault, we are leader in EV in full hybrid," he said.

"So if we can keep a slice of electric would be good, but overall I support the direction of F1 and FIA."

Asked if keeping the turbo element, which manufacturers like Audi think is essential, was important, Provost said: “No. It's not important. What is important is to continue the great journey of F1.

“Always putting challenges, always competition, new events, new things, and if we can get every year again, 100 million plus followers. This is our common goal."