The organisation traces its Formula One history to 1981, when it competed as Toleman from a base in Witney, England. Following purchase by the Benetton Group in 1986 it was renamed Benetton, winning the 1995 Constructors' Championship and supporting Michael Schumacher to Drivers' Championships in 1994 and 1995. The team moved to Enstone ahead of the 1992 season. Renault purchased the team in 2000, and by 2002 it was competing as the Renault F1 Team. Under that identity it won Constructors' Championships in 2005 and 2006, with Fernando Alonso claiming the Drivers' Championship both years.
Renault sold the team in 2011, and it raced under the Lotus banner — first as Lotus Renault GP (2011), then as Lotus F1 Team (2012–2015) — before Renault reacquired the operation at the end of 2015 and raced again as the Renault F1 Team through 2020. The informal designation "Team Enstone" is used when referring to the organisation's continuous history across all its name changes.
In June 2023, Renault Group sold a 24% stake in Alpine Racing Ltd to a consortium led by Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, and Maximum Effort Investments for €200 million. Additional investors subsequently joined the group, including NFL players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, golfer Rory McIlroy, footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold, and former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua. By 2025, Renault had reduced its shareholding to approximately 60% through a further minority stake sale.
For the 2021 season, Renault rebranded the team as Alpine, signing two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso to replace Daniel Ricciardo while retaining Esteban Ocon. After a difficult opening race, Alpine scored points in the following fifteen rounds. Ocon's victory at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix was the first win for a French driver in a French car powered by a French engine since Alain Prost's triumph at the 1983 Austrian Grand Prix.
In 2022 Otmar Szafnauer joined as team principal, and BWT became title sponsor. Alonso moved to Aston Martin for 2023 after Alpine was unwilling to offer more than a one-year extension. The team announced Oscar Piastri as Alonso's replacement, but Piastri denied having a valid contract; the Contract Recognition Board upheld his position and he joined McLaren. Pierre Gasly was confirmed for 2023 on a multi-year deal.
Alpine finished sixth in the 2023 Constructors' Championship, with their Renault power unit estimated to be costing them roughly half a second per lap against rivals. In 2024, after early struggles, the team scored a double podium at the São Paulo Grand Prix with Ocon second and Gasly third — Team Enstone's first double podium since the 2013 Korean Grand Prix as Lotus F1. Ocon departed at the end of 2024, replaced by Jack Doohan.
The 2025 season proved Alpine's most difficult as a named entity: the team finished last in the Constructors' Championship in the final year of their Renault engine supply, 46 points behind ninth-placed Sauber. During the season Doohan was dropped mid-year in favour of Franco Colapinto on a rotating basis. Team principal Oliver Oakes resigned after the Miami Grand Prix, with executive advisor Flavio Briatore — who had previously led the Enstone organisation from 2000 to 2009 before resigning amid a race-fixing scandal — assuming effective control.
Renault announced in September 2024 that it would exit Formula One engine manufacturing after 2025. From 2026 Alpine became a Mercedes customer team, retaining Gasly and signing Colapinto for a full-time role. The switch to Mercedes power units brought an immediate improvement in points-scoring. In May 2026 it was announced that Gucci would replace BWT as title sponsor from 2027.
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