Mercedes engine deal hints at plans to sell Alpine F1 team: Karun Chandhok

Max Verstappen is on the brink of securing his fourth F1 title, but it hasn’t been clean sailing for him this year, with McLaren and Ferrari putting on a tough fight. Ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas GP, we caught up with former F1 driver-turned pundit Karun Chandhok to discuss the title fight, what the future holds for Alpine (now that it has confirmed plans to use Mercedes' engines and gearboxes from 2026 onwards), Kush Maini’s F1 prospects and more:

2024 has been a great season for F1 fans; we finally have multiple cars in with a chance to win races. What factors had to fall into place to make a season like this happen?

First is Red Bull not being able to improve as much as they would have liked. They certainly seem to have rediscovered a little bit of form recently. But there was a phase in the middle of the year, there was a good chunk of five to six weekends where they were not able to deliver performance that we’re used to. And Max had to really exploit every bit of his talent and ability to stay in front in the championship.

But of course, when you have stable rules, over time, everybody learns. Knowledge is a diminishing curve; at the end of the day, the closer you are to the limit, the harder it is to improve. I think McLaren in particular have been outstanding in the last 18 months. Even Ferrari, before the summer break, didn’t look so great. But then they came back, they won in Monza, could have won in Baku, won in Austin and Mexico. It was super impressive.

Verstappen vs Norris – What are both drivers’ strengths and weaknesses?

I think Max’s strength is he makes very few mistakes. Apart from Baku this year, he’s comprehensively beaten his teammate. And I think that really came to light once the other teams started to catch up with Red Bull. From Miami onwards, McLaren have had the fastest car and going into Miami, Lando was 52 points behind Max, and today he’s 62 points behind Max. Going into Miami, Perez was second in the world championship, and today he’s eighth. I think that’s where the difference has come.

If you look at the period from when [Red Bull’s] car wasn’t the best, Max has scored 283 points and Checo [Perez] has scored 66. And that just underlines how consistently awesome Max has been this year.

For Lando, you can immediately think of races like Spain, Italy and Budapest, where if he had a better start and better first lap, he could have won those races. Brazil also, if he wasn’t passed by George [Russell], I think he would have pulled away in the lead; he could have had a different race. Austin as well, he left the window open for Max to come through.

Okay, Max is aggressive, feisty and robust, but you should know that. And he [Norris] said that himself, that he was too generous at the first corner with Max and then you go into a spiral. Ultimately, that’s the difference. Max is ruthlessly uncompromising and he doesn’t make any mistakes.

Thoughts on the 2025 season launch, which will see all teams unveiling their new liveries at the same time. Do you see this as a welcome change?

I want to see how it unfolds. Next year in particular, being the 75th anniversary of F1, it’s good to celebrate that. Also, the car designs are largely going to be carried over, there aren’t going to be huge changes in terms of the designs. I think when we go over to 2026, it will be nice to see them one-by-one because there will be huge design differences. But I think if you were the other nine teams, I’m not sure how much coverage they’re going to get because everyone’s just going to be looking at Lewis at Ferrari for the first time.

Compared to George Russell, Lewis Hamilton has struggled a bit this season. Do you see him rediscovering his form at Ferrari?

Time will tell. I think in terms of outright qualifying pace, Leclerc will have the upper hand. Just for that one lap maximum attack, Leclerc is really on a different level at the moment. He’s driving with a lot of confidence, qualifying really well. But what we have learnt in F1 this year is you don’t have to be on pole to win the race.

Lewis is not going there to be the fastest driver in the team, but he’s going there to show Ferrari how to win the world championship again. Next year will be 18 years since Kimi [Raikkonen] won the drivers’ championship and in that time, Lewis has won seven. So, I think he’s going there to offer that experience and that big picture approach.

Alpine has confirmed that it’s going to be a Mercedes customer team from 2026 onwards. In the long term, is this a sign that Renault is gearing up to sell the team?

I think so. When you step away from being a works manufacturer team, it’s like disconnecting it from the mothership a bit. From a technical standpoint, that opens up the door for private sale.

At the end of the day, the fact that they are finishing fifth-sixth in the F1 world championship isn’t really great for their marketing profile. The valuation of the F1 team is now going to be over $1 billion, so it’s probably not a bad idea to cash in and get a bit of money in the pot. You have one of two choices – either you invest heavily and you go and chase the championship with the new 2026 rules. But they’ve obviously decided to go the opposite way, which to me is a sign that they are preparing to sell.

We’re going to have four rookies on the grid in 2025. This is a big change from the first race of 2024, where we had no rookies at Bahrain. What do you think has pushed teams to bet on rookies?

I think Oliver Bearman was a big factor when he drove at Saudi Arabia. The fact that he jumped into the car and did a fantastic job that day to get points shows that actually there’s a lot of good talent outside F1, particularly in F2. And looking at their results on paper, it’s impossible to judge.

In F2 this year they have a new car, and we’re seeing big differences. Look at Kush Maini, for example. At the beginning of the year he was strong and competitive and doing well. And then there are weekends where he’s absolutely nowhere. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was nowhere in F2 and then he’s been quick whenever he’s tested the F1 car.

So I think Bearman’s performance in Saudi Arabia was a real catalyst for people in the F1 paddock saying “hang on a second, we need to judge beyond just F2 results” and then they opened their minds. It’s great; it’s so healthy and important for the sport that we get new blood coming through. Otherwise you get stagnation and that’s bad for the sport.

Kush Maini has completed a few F1 tests with Alpine now. What do you think he needs to achieve to make the step up to F1?

He’s got another season in F2 coming up next year. He needs a good season there. As much as I say that people aren’t judging on F2 [results], I still think it helps. Take his teammate [Gabriel] Bortoleto, for example. At the start of the year Kush and he were equal, and then Kush had a few issues and dropped away. But Bortoletto has gone forward. So I think, Alpine have the ability to judge Kush based on his F1 testing. It’s about having a solid season in F2. You never know, right? You’ve got Jack Doohan and Pierre Gasly there at Alpine and you don’t know how that’s going to play out. Maybe there’s an opportunity in the future.

The Las Vegas GP will be held from November 21-23. All sessions will be streamed live in India on FanCode.

Also see:

F1 2025 season launch on February 18

F1 2024: Verstappen wins Brazil GP from P17 on grid