Flavio Briatore Promises Alpine Comeback After It Fell 'Completely In The Sh*t'

Saajan Jogia | Aug 16, 2024

Oct 22, 2023; Austin, Texas, USA; BWT Alpine F1 driver Pierre Gasly (10) of Team France drives during the 2023 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Renault CEO Luca de Meo candidly admitted to former team boss Flavio Briatore that Alpine had been "completely in sh*t" lately, prompting him to call Briatore back into the fold. Now serving as de Meo's executive advisor, Briatore has crafted a strategic plan and confidently pledged that Alpine will return to the podium by 2027.

The Enstone outfit has been enduring an extremely challenging F1 season. An underpowered car and constant managerial shuffles have brought an air of uncertainty to the team. The return of Briatore to the sport, who was in the news in the past for the Singapore GP 2008 Crashgate scandal, might raise several eyebrows, but he now has a mission to make Alpine one of the top teams in Formula 1.

Speaking on the Formula For Success podcast, Briatore, the man who once brought the Alpine F1 team to its winning form when it was known as the Benetton Formula team, explained why he was called back. He said:

“Luca de Meo, the chairman of Renault, I know Luca for much before he’s arriving in Renault.

“When he arrived, I gave him some suggestions, ‘Formula 1 is a very difficult business. The people you have are not so good’

“So after three years, he’s called me, we meet, ‘I mean, we are completely in the sh*t with the team’. And I tell Luca, ‘Luca, Formula 1 is a different business. Formula 1, you need to have somebody dedicated to the team. Not be a corporate and not be bureaucracy, the team spirit, etc, etc’.

“And one day we’re talking, he told me, ‘Why don’t you come back to help me?’ And this started the conversation with Luca. I know the team, I know the factory, I know everything. So I tell [him], ‘Why not? I need to organize myself completely different, because I don’t want to go to every race. I don’t want to go live in England, maybe one day a week, etc, etc’.

“And this happened, you know, it was my old team. With this team, we won seven championships.

“And it’s the new challenge, it’s the new motivation. I’m very happy to come back.

“We have a new team principal [Oliver Oakes]. It’s Luca, myself and Oliver is team principal, and we are working like that.”

Promising the podium, Briatore added:

“Alpine, I promise you, give me two years, in two years’ time we see the podium.

“2027 we have a podium.”

Hiring a top driver was not important at the moment, added Briatore. Instead, he prioritizes restructuring the team and building a fast car. When asked who would be Pierre Gasly's new teammate for the upcoming season, he said:

“I don’t know yet.

“At this moment, the driver is not… At the moment, you need to put the team together from the commercial side, the technical side, the management side. The driver makes no difference now. The difference be in 2006, 2007, 2008, this would be the difference for the driver.

“For me, in this moment, it’s just the performance of the car. It’s just restructuring the team completely.

“The driver. If you have a good car, you need a good driver. If the car is not performing… Our point in this moment [is to] make sure we put all the energy in the technical side and make sure that the car of Alpine is looking better, better and better and improving for next year. And 2026, I believe, we see the new Alpine.”