Former Renault Formula 1 Team Principal Flavio Briatore has been linked with a shock return to the Enstone-based Alpine squad, according to reports in French and Italian media.
Briatore served as Team Principal at Enstone during its days as Benetton and Renault, helping guide Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso to back-to-back Drivers’ titles.
However, his time with the team ended with the disgraceful ‘crashgate’ scandal of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, where he instructed Nelosn Piquet Jr to crash on purpose to aid Alonso’s charge to victory.
A lifetime race ban followed but was later overturned in 2013 and now Italian media outlet Corriere della Serra and French newspaper L’Equipe report that Renault CEO Luca de Meo has contacted the 74-year-old Italian regarding a special advisor role.
Briatore’s position would see him help guide his former team with recruitment strategies as it desperately fights to regain a semblance of form worthy of a works F1 team.
Amid a continual slip in performance over the last 18 months, de Meo has ousted former Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi, ex-Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and long-time former Sporting Director Alan Permane.
Bruno Famin leads the line as Team Principal in 2024, but after a disastrous concept change saw the team start the season well and truly on the back foot, more heads rolled in the form of Technical Director Matt Harman and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer in March.
A McLaren-esque three-pronged Technical Structure has since been put in place and Famin has recruited David Sanchez to lead Alpine’s technical team moving forward.
The team’s fortunes have slowly changed in recent weeks with Esteban Ocon picking up a point in Miami and Pierre Gasly doing the same last weekend in Monaco as Alpine looks more comfortable in the midfield fight.
Amid news Briatore could be drafted in to continue Alpine’s progression, a decision that would be controversial at best given his history, the team issued the following statement.
“As a team, we are in frequent contact with a number of industry experts in pursuit of improving overall performance,” the statement began (via Autosport). “We consider all relevant inputs and, when appropriate, seek advice from people with experience and previous success. We cannot comment on any individual matters.”
A move for Briatore would be another knee-jerk response from de Meo in his mis-maged handling of the Alpine F1 team.
His controversial past and reported desire to work his way back into a Team Principal role would be a volatile mix.
The unrest at Alpine continues beyond recruitment, however, with further reports via Joe Saward indicating that de Meo is looking for an outside engine supplier for 2026 and beyond.
This points to the Alpine squad shutting down its F1 power unit operation at Viry-Chatillon and perhaps even leads toward the team going up for sale.
Alpine could be on the market for an interested bidder, be it Andretti or Chinese auto giant Geely, which is considering stepping into the F1 circus.
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