Alpine’s Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore has had his say on the Renault Group’s plans to cease production of Formula 1 power units for the Alpine team, saying “the problem is the evidence.”
Former Alpine Team Principal Bruno Famin made public in July the intention by Renault management to cease production of F1 Power Units in Viry-Chatillon and pivot the Alpine squad to becoming a Mercedes customer entry.
In becoming an F1 customer team, Alpine will slash costs from $120 million per year making its own engine to $17 million per year buying from Mercedes.
Briatore said the main issue pushing the Renault Group down this path is down to the underperforming Viry engines in F1’s hybrid era.
“The problem is the evidence,” Briatore said (via Autosport).
Indeed, Viry’s power units have routinely been the worst performing since F1 went hyrbid in 2014 with reports suggesting the French marque is approximately 20 horsepower down on its rivals.
The decision to divert Viry’s attention away from F1 to the likes of Dakar, FIA WEC, Formula E and the Alpine road car programme has gone down like a lead balloon with staff representatives.
Last week, the Social and Economic Council of Alpine employees wrote, “We do not understand what justifies killing this elite entity that is the Viry-Chatillon site and betraying its legend and its DNA by grafting a Mercedes heart into our F1 Alpine [car].”
Briatore, a controversial figure within F1’s ranks (google crash gate for details), has pleaded innocence on this occasion and said the decision to scrap the Viry F1 power unit was not his.
“Regarding the engine, it was decided already from the management, and for me it is fine,” he said.
“Whatever our chairman decides, fine. This was decided already, soon before I arrived in the team.
“I am not the bad guy all the time….everything else you [can] blame me. Not this one.”
Still, new Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes has referred to Briatore’s role within the Anglo-French squad as “the Flavio tornado,” prompting speculation a staff culling could be made to streamline the underperforming operation.
“We don’t want to cut any jobs, we want to just have an efficiency,” Briatore said.
“The people who want to stay with us, they are welcome to stay. But we need everybody in the same line.
“We want to have people with the experience, the people working together as an F1 team. After that, we don’t want to fire anybody.”
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