Dipping Our Toes Into The World Of H. Moser & Cie and Alpine F1

For the second week running, I’m going to cover the fast-paced world of Formula 1, as I was lucky enough to be invited by H. Moser & Cie and the BWT Alpine F1 team for a factory tour and a one-day visit to the 2024 Silverstone Grand Prix. For those who have been following our Petrolhead Corner, which includes personal experiences from time to time, it’s no secret I love F1 racing and have been following it for about 30 years now. Weirdly, I have yet to visit an actual F1 race weekend but I’m not going to bore you with details on why that hasn’t happened yet. Instead, I will share my experience setting foot in the Enstone compounds of Alpine, talking to Pierre Gasly for a bit, and paying a visit to the Silverstone track on Friday.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team might not be the oldest on paper, as the name has been around since 2021, yet the history behind it goes back much further than that. Alpine, as a car manufacturer, is a subsidiary of Renault and fans of Formula 1 are very familiar with that name! Renault has been involved with F1 for decades, and in various forms, winning multiple championships both as a constructor and an engine supplier. For instance, it dominated F1 in the mid-1990s with Williams and Benetton (5 driver’s titles and 6 constructor’s titles between 1992 and 1997) and won four championships in a row with Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel.

Renault entered F1 in 1977 as a constructor and was one of the pioneers in the turbo era in Formula 1 racing. Its history is deeply intertwined with Enstone, as it acquired the Benetton team in 2001, which was already working from the former stone quarry in the rolling hills of Oxfordshire. From then on, Renault had two stints as a factory or ‘Works’ team (2001 to 2012 and from 2016 to 2021) where it constructed both engine and chassis. In between it was rebranded to Lotus-Renault, and now it’s known as the BWT Alpine F1 Team.

Surprisingly, just before the 2024 season kicked off, the Enstone-based team announced its partnership with one of our favourite independent watchmakers; H. Moser & Cie! Talking to Edouard Meylan, CEO of Moser, he was actually just as surprised as I was for this opportunity and partnership. It turns out that Luca de Meo, the head of Renault Group, is a proper watch lover and H. Moser and Cie was at the top of his wishlist when it came to finding a new timing partner for the Alpine F1 team. The partnership was made public only a couple of weeks before the season opener in Bahrain, and we’ve seen two very enticing limited editions already. But, without telling you too much, expect a lot more to come!

Stepping into the Enstone facilities of Alpine reveals the incredible level of competition on all fronts. With roughly 800 employees in France working on the engine, and close to 1,000 more in the UK working on everything else, it’s a massive operation. Operating under a FIA regulated cost-cap of 145 million USD, the team is purely focused on developing, maintaining and running three cars in Formula 1; one for Pierre Gasly, one for Esteban Ocon, and one in parts as a spare car whenever it’s needed.

Virtually everything is done in-house, from layering the carbon fibre for the monocoque, the wings and the rest of the body, to the hand-welded Inconel exhaust manifolds. They use specific suppliers (sometimes mandated by the FIA) for certain elements such as the fixed rows of buttons on the steering wheel, but for the rest, it’s a proper ‘Manufacture’ if you will, similar to Moser. Alpine also stress analyses and tests everything themselves, and can build parts to a 60% scale to test in the team’s own wind tunnel for efficiency and performance gains. The time they have for this is limited by the FIA depending on the final standings in the Constructor’s Championship of last year. The higher up you finish, the less time you’re allowed to use a wind tunnel, to balance resources and performance between teams a bit.

Everything that’s developed, analyzed, tested, and eventually built in Enstone culminates on the track, as each team will bring multiple updates over the season. This can be pretty much anything, but is mostly focused on aerodynamics. Despite racing at what is basically their geographical home race and updates being introduced up and down the grid, Alpine had to do without. Pierre Gasly suffered some technical issues and was hit with massive grid penalties after replacing multiple key components ahead of the race. That meant he would start the Grand Prix from the very back, something he mentioned was ‘disappointing, but I will be doing all I can to make the best of it’ on Sunday.

On Thursday we briefly spoke to Pierre Gasly, a friend of the brand and the first-ever ambassador of Moser, and he talked about his racing life and the sacrifices it takes, plus his love for watches and the partnership between Alpine and Moser. During that conversation, Pierre explained how watches have been a growing interest for quite a while now, and in his eyes high-end watchmaking shares a lot of similarities with F1. It’s the relentless pursuit of perfection, both in design and engineering and the synergy of all components working together. An array of finely tuned and finished parts are assembled to serve a single purpose; to be the best at their game.

When it comes to watches, Pierre Gasly can be seen wearing a Streamliner Tourbillon Skeleton, one of the coolest iterations of the brand’s curvaceous luxury sports watch. When asked about the brand and this specific watch, he says; “I find it very fascinating, and my favourite Moser watch is actually the Streamliner Skeleton. I love it and wear it pretty much every day, even right now. I think it was during one of the first meetings I had with Edouard I saw it and asked about it. I really like how detailed and refined it is, and I love the skeleton construction. You can see everything inside.”

Continuing; “There has always been a strong connection between motorsports and watches. I think the craftsmanship and precision, the focus on the details and the amount of work that goes into every piece are very similar to the work that goes into our cars. Pushing the boundaries in the sport, but also in every new watch that comes up. I can’t talk about it too much, but I know Moser is already working on some cool stuff. They’ve been at the factory learning about what we do, and seeing what they can implement in the watches in the future. There’s a lot to learn between both teams. I’m really excited to see what can come out of the collaboration.”

Xavier, who was with me for the entire trip was curious to learn what surprised him discovering the world of watches, and Moser in particular; “I would say the finesse and precision that goes into every piece. I wasn’t aware but when I realised the entire production of parts, tools and so on that goes into it, I was blown away. Going into the Moser manufacture, it kind of looks almost like an orchestra. Everyone has a role and everyone has their input at a given moment, and the work of a full group results in a very beautiful and unique piece. I was quite impressed with the hand-crafted work. Also, it’s a very creative world, which I love, as there’s almost no limit to it. You can come up with as many complexities as you want and really challenge yourself. It really fascinates me!”.

I also wanted to know a bit more about his drive, and how he motivates himself with a calendar of 24 races; “I love the competition, and I live for it. I need this in my life, and there’s nothing that I love doing more than racing an F1 car and battling it out with the other 19 best drivers in the world. Obviously it takes a lot of time and effort, and there are a lot of sacrifices on a personal life level. I definitely don’t have a similar life to my friends, but I’m in a position where I think I have the coolest job in the world.

The hardest thing to deal with, however, is having only 60 days of time back home, which I split between my family and friends, and my girlfriend who lives in Portugal. Trying to find time and the right balance on a personal level is extremely hard when you work in Formula 1. But I come to every race with the same excitement and I’m thinking about only one thing; race day!”

For more information, please visit Alpine-Cars.co.uk or H-Moser.com.