Mercedes will be without Lewis Hamilton for the 2025 season, having replaced him with 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, but they may have an extra £15million in the bank a year down the line as a direct result of one of their Formula One rivals.

Alpine are set to ditch their in-house power units in favour of becoming a customer team, ending months of speculation, a decision confirmed by Renault CEO Luca de Meo.

Renault had reportedly undergone positive results from initial tests when developing their power unit for 2026, but De Meo felt that he needed to make an “emotional” call and shut down their F1 engine project at French headquarters in Viry Chatillon.

Alpine are widely expected to switch to Mercedes from 2026 and pay the Silver Arrows directly, rather than spending money to produce their own power unit when the new regulations come into effect.

French outlet L’Equipe claim in an interview with De Meo that Alpine will pay upwards of £15m to use Mercedes’ engine, with the chief executive explaining that one of the reasons for the change was due to a larger staff working on the project under Toto Wolff’s guidance.

“They [Mercedes] have test benches that we don’t have. The transition to the hybrid era required powerful investments that were underestimated at the time. We operate, structurally, with three cylinders when others have eight,” said De Meo.

“When I arrived four years ago, the group wanted to stop F1. If it’s still there, it’s because I saved the thing. But we don’t have the structure to be at the forefront of battery chemistry development, software management, energy recovery.”

Renault confirmed only last week that their engine factory at Viry-Chatillon would be transformed into "an engineering centre of excellence" by the end of the year.

"As a result of the consultation process with the employee representatives, during which discussions were constructive and an independent assessment was conducted, Alpine's management confirms its project to transform the site into a centre of engineering and high-tech excellence by late 2024," a statement said.

"Formula 1 activities at Viry, excluding the development of a new engine, will continue until the end of the 2025 season."

Alpine's F1 operations are currently split across two factories, both France and the UK, but outsourcing their French engine-focused division to Mercedes will aid them in fully focusing their efforts elsewhere.

And Mercedes can bank a fee beginning at £15m in the process, which could be used in numerous ways as Wolff hopes to successfully replace Hamilton with teenage debutant Antonelli and tie down George Russell to a long-term contract, amid interest from Red Bull.