The team first competed in Formula One in 1981 as Toleman, based in Witney, England. Following purchase by Benetton Group in 1986, it was renamed Benetton and won the 1995 Constructors' Championship; its driver Michael Schumacher won the Drivers' Championship in 1994 and 1995. Prior to the 1992 season the team relocated to its current site in Enstone.
Renault purchased the team for the first time by the 2000 season, renaming it Renault F1 Team by 2002. Renault won the Constructors' Championship in 2005 and 2006, with Fernando Alonso taking the Drivers' Championship in both years. In 2011 Lotus Cars joined as sponsor, and the team's name changed to Lotus Renault GP; by 2012 Genii Capital held a majority stake and the team raced as Lotus F1 Team through 2015. Renault repurchased the team at the end of 2015, renaming it Renault Sport Formula One Team and racing as Renault from 2016 through 2020. The colloquialism "Team Enstone" is generally used when discussing the organisation's full history. The team operates a 17,000 m² (180,000 sq ft) facility on a 17-acre (6.9 ha) site in Enstone; by May 2023, Alpine had approximately 1,000 personnel in Enstone and 350 in Viry-Châtillon.
The sportscar manufacturer Automobiles Alpine's involvement in Formula One dates to 1968, when the Alpine A350 Grand Prix car was built, powered by a Gordini V8 engine. After initial testing with Mauro Bianchi at Circuit Zandvoort, the project was abandoned when the engine produced around 300 horsepower (220 kW) versus the Cosworth V8's 400. In 1975 the company produced the Alpine A500 prototype to test a 1.5 L V6 turbo engine for the Renault factory team, which eventually debuted in 1977.
In September 2020, Groupe Renault announced it would use "Alpine" as the works team's name going forward, retiring the "Renault F1 Team" moniker after five years.
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 minority investors joined later in 2023, including NFL players Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, golfer Rory McIlroy, footballers Trent Alexander-Arnold and Juan Mata, and former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua. Actor Ryan Reynolds was among the original group. In 2025, Renault further adjusted the ownership structure by selling an additional minority stake to new financial partners, reducing its shareholding to approximately 60%.
For 2021, Alpine signed two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso to replace an outgoing Daniel Ricciardo. This marked Alonso's third spell with Team Enstone, having previously driven from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2008 to 2009. Esteban Ocon was retained from the 2020 Renault team. Renault team boss Cyril Abiteboul announced he would leave as the team transitioned to Alpine; he was replaced by Davide Brivio, previously with Suzuki in MotoGP.
Alpine scored in fifteen consecutive races after a difficult opener and achieved a victory for Ocon at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix — the first victory for a French driver in a French team since Olivier Panis's triumph at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix for Ligier, and the first for a French driver in a French car with a French engine since Alain Prost's 1983 Austrian Grand Prix victory for Renault. Alonso added a podium at the Qatar Grand Prix after qualifying fifth but starting third due to grid penalties for Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.
In January 2022, team principal Marcin Budkowski and non-executive director Alain Prost both departed. Otmar Szafnauer, formerly of Aston Martin F1 Team, was announced as new team principal. Bruno Famin was recruited as executive director at Viry-Châtillon, responsible for power-unit development; he had previously led Peugeot to three consecutive Dakar Rally victories (2016–2018) and a Le Mans 24 Hours triumph in 2009. Oscar Piastri replaced Daniil Kvyat as test driver. In February 2022, BWT became title sponsor. Alonso qualified second at the Canadian Grand Prix — his best qualifying position since the 2012 German Grand Prix — before a race issue left him ninth.
Alonso moved to Aston Martin for 2023, seeking a multi-year contract extension that Alpine declined to offer. Alpine announced Piastri as replacement, but Piastri immediately denied having a contract with the team. In September 2022, the Contract Recognition Board determined Alpine did not have a valid contract with Piastri, leaving him free to race for McLaren in 2023. During the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix weekend, the team confirmed Pierre Gasly had signed a multi-year contract starting in 2023.
In July 2023, Laurent Rossi was replaced by Philippe Krief as CEO. During the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, Alpine announced that Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane would leave after that race; chief technical officer Pat Fry would also depart at year's end to join Williams. Alpine finished sixth in the Constructors' Championship, with Gasly and Ocon 11th and 12th in the drivers' standings. The Renault power unit was estimated to cost the team approximately half a second per lap on average relative to rivals; Alpine reportedly could have matched Mercedes-level performance without that deficit.
Alpine retained Gasly and Ocon for 2024. At the Bahrain Grand Prix, the team locked out the bottom of the grid in qualifying and finished 17th and 18th. Technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer left shortly after; the team moved to a structure of three technical directors — Joe Burnell (engineering), David Wheater (aerodynamics), and Ciaron Pilbeam (performance). David Sanchez, formerly of McLaren, was signed as executive technical director in May 2024. Also in May 2024, Flavio Briatore controversially returned as executive advisor; he had previously served as team principal at Team Enstone from 2000 to 2009, before resigning in connection with a race-fixing scandal.
Alpine scored their first points of 2024 at the Miami Grand Prix, where Ocon finished tenth. At Monaco, Ocon collided with Gasly on the opening lap; Ocon received a five-place grid penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix and apologised. Team principal Bruno Famin subsequently announced Ocon would leave at season's end. During the Belgian Grand Prix weekend Famin himself was announced as departing, moving to Renault's mainline motorsports divisions; Oliver Oakes took over as team principal from the Dutch Grand Prix.
Alpine achieved a double podium at the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, with Ocon finishing second and Gasly third behind race winner Max Verstappen — Team Enstone's first double podium under the Alpine name and their first double under any name since the 2013 Korean Grand Prix as Lotus F1. This result moved Alpine from ninth to sixth in the Constructors' Championship. The day after the Qatar Grand Prix, Ocon was released early from the team ahead of his planned move to Haas; Jack Doohan, already signed for 2025, made his debut at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Gasly was retained for 2025 — Alpine's final season with a works Renault power unit — and paired with Doohan, who replaced Ocon. Reserve drivers for 2025 included Paul Aron, Franco Colapinto, Ryō Hirakawa, and Kush Maini. BP and Castrol departed after eight years to supply Audi; Eni and Valvoline joined as official suppliers. Hirakawa subsequently left for Haas shortly after the Japanese Grand Prix.
The 2025 season started with Alpine sitting last in the Constructors' Championship through the opening three rounds in Australia, China, and Japan — the only team without a point in any of those rounds. Doohan accumulated four penalty points on his FIA Super Licence after only two Grands Prix. At the Japanese Grand Prix, Gasly was disqualified from the race result due to an underweight chassis; Charles Leclerc's Ferrari was disqualified for the same infringement. Data from Japan showed the Alpines losing at least 0.6 seconds in the second sector at Suzuka because of the Renault power unit deficit.
Following the Miami Grand Prix, Oliver Oakes resigned as team principal; Briatore became de facto team principal, with racing director Dave Greenwood assuming Oakes' formal duties. Doohan lost his seat to Franco Colapinto on a rotating basis, with Colapinto scheduled to debut at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for five races. Colapinto suffered a large crash in qualifying at Imola, and neither he nor Gasly scored points there. Gasly scored a point at the Spanish Grand Prix; the team recorded three further points finishes in Britain, Belgium, and São Paulo. A pointless result at the penultimate Qatar round guaranteed that Alpine would finish last in the Constructors' Championship, 46 points behind ninth-placed Sauber with a maximum of 43 points still available at the Abu Dhabi finale. Alpine's 2025 tally was nonetheless a record high number of points for a team finishing last in the Constructors' Championship.
On 30 September 2024, Renault announced it would end its engine programme following the 2025 season and would not produce engines to the 2026 regulations, citing a lack of strong results in the V6 turbo-hybrid era since 2014. Alpine thus lost works team status and became a Mercedes customer team, while remaining majority-owned by Groupe Renault. For 2026, Gasly was retained and Colapinto signed for a full-time drive. After three races, both drivers were scoring points with the Mercedes package, a marked improvement over 2025.
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