Alpine to use Mercedes power units in F1 from 2026

ENSTONE, England (AP) — The struggling Alpine Formula 1 team will use engines and gearboxes from Mercedes starting in 2026 after parent company Renault cuts its in-house F1 engine program.

With new engine rules coming at the end of next season, Alpine said on Tuesday that Mercedes will be its power unit supplier “for the duration of the new regulation era, from 2026 until at least 2030."

“The team remains focused on performing in the strongest way possible in the 2024 and 2025 seasons."

Alpine said in September that Renault is converting the factory at Viry-Chatillon on the outskirts of Paris into an engineering center focusing mostly on other projects.

Renault has a history of success as an F1 engine manufacturer going back to the 1970s, when it pioneered turbocharged engines.

Fernando Alonso won the drivers' championship with the works Renault team in 2005 and 2006, and the French company supplied title-winning engines for teams like Benetton, Williams and Red Bull. The last driver to become champion with a Renault engine was Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

The announcement comes nine days after Alpine achieved a surprise double podium finish in Brazil with Esteban Ocon second and Pierre Gasly third behind race winner Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

It was a rare success in an otherwise dismal season for Alpine, which hadn't had either car finish higher than ninth until then.

The team, which has had numerous staffing changes in senior roles this year, more than doubled its points haul for the entire season in one race and is sixth out of 10 teams in the constructors' standings with three races to go.

Alpine is still planning to use Renault power units in 2025, when Australian Jack Doohan will replace Ocon as Gasly's teammate.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

French Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon, left, and Pierre Gasly celebrate finishing second and third in the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly of France, steers his car during the qualifying session ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, of France, steers his car during the sprint qualifying session, ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix auto race at the Interlagos racetrack, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

SAO PAULO (AP) — At least one explosion outside Brazil’s Supreme Court killed one person and forced the justices and staff to evacuate the building in the capital of Brasilia, police and firefighters said.

A police statement said an artifact exploded outside the court without providing more details. Local firefighters confirmed that one person died at the scene, but did not identify the person.

The court's justices safely left the building after the incident, which took place at about 7:30 p.m. local time, shortly after Wednesday's session finished. Jorge Macedo, a staffer at Brazil’s top court, confirmed the evacuation to The Associated Press.

Local media showed footage suggesting two blasts outside the court, with 20 seconds between the first and the second explosions.

José Chrispiniano, a spokesman for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said the 79-year-old leader was not in the neighboring presidential palace at the time of the blast.

Police blocked all access to the area where Brazil's Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace are located.

The presidential security bureau was conducting a sweep of the grounds around the presidential palace, local press reported.

Earlier, another explosion was heard outside Brazil's Congress, but it did not cause damages.

Police vehicles are parked outside the Supreme Court in Brasília, Brazil, following an explosion, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)