2024 Formula 1

ZCanadian

Agree.
I wonder if this isn't just musing out loud to put pressure on F1 management?

I mean, really, Alpine is a team named after a brand that produces two low volume cars - one of which nobody would want to buy, and neither is available in the largest market on earth.
It was previously called Renault (which owns auto maker Alpine), which is in turn 15% owned by the French government. It was meant to show off the company's prowess, but lately has been the laughing stock of the grid. It cannot be economically feasible for Renault to go on developing F1 engines for just one team, and they have systematically pissed off pretty much any customer team they ever had. And that show itself in the (lack of) success these engines are having.