Want to get close to Formula One? Well then, get along to Dundrum Town Centre shopping centre in south Dublin on 30 and 31 August as part of the Supercar Weekend, or Windsor MotorMall on the 26th, 27th, and 28th to get up all personal-like with the 2019 Alpine F1 car.
Hang on, Alpine wasn't in F1 in 2019…
Well spotted, this is in fact a 2019 Renault F1 car, the R.S. 19 as raced by Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg, but it's been repainted in the full 2025 Alpine F1 team colours, complete with metallic blue and the bright pink of the team's sponsor, Bright Water Technologies (BWT). They're both basically the same team, so it's actually an acceptable thing to do.
Where can I see the car?
The Alpine (Renault…) will be on display in Dundrum Town Centre, and if you pop along to the Alpine Store on level one of the shopping centre, as well as seeing the fantastic A110 and A290 Alpine road cars, you'll be able to play with an official Alpine F1 simulator.
Or you could go to Windsor MotorMall, just off junction five of the M50 motorway during that week, and see the Alpine on display at Alpine's only current Irish dealership. You could even sort out a test-drive while you're there…
Tell me more about the F1 car…
The R.S. 19 uses a 1.6-litre hybrid V6 engine producing as much as 950hp, and the chassis in which it sits — all carbon-fibre of course — weighs just 743kg, including the driver. It'll hit a potential 355km/h top speed depending on how you set it up, but of course it's the speed around corners that really counts… As driven by Ricciardo and Hulkenberg, the car scored 91 points, allowing the team to finish fifth overall in the 2021 F1 season.