A Mercedes-Benz power unit was the “only plan” that made Flavio Briatore return to Formula 1 with Alpine in 2024.
Briatore has had a long and storied history with the Renault brand – parent to Alpine’s F1 operations.
As Benetton, the flamboyant Italian led Michael Schumacher to back-to-back World Championships in 1994 and 1995.
When the team changed hands as a Renault works outfit, Briatore stayed put at the helm and led Fernando Alonso to two consecutive titles in 2005 and 2006.
But the Crashgate controversy in 2008 saw Briatore banned from the paddock, only for the ban to be overturned by a European Court on Appeal.
That said, the Italian was not seen in the paddock until he returned to the Enstone-based squad again in 2024 as its Executive Advisor.
Team Principal Oliver Oakes’ resignation mid-way last year meant Briatore’s role has been expanded to that of de facto Principal.
But all of this was only possible because the team decided to shut down its engine programme in favor of becoming a Mercedes customer team.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Briatore divulged how this was the only non-negotiable condition he had put before the then Renault CEO Luca de Meo.
“The moment when Luca de Meo was talking about joining the team, [there was] only one condition for me to join the team, which was to have a Mercedes-Benz engine,” he revealed. “here was no plan B, it was only one plan.
“I wanted a Mercedes-Benz engine completely. There was only one way to come back, because in this moment, you need to be with the best people.
“And the people of Mercedes, we started working together and it was promising. It’s surprising, the ways that the people [at Mercedes] are collaborating with us.
“It’s a super, super relationship. This is what we’re looking for.”
‘Issues’ Flavio Briatore doesn’t have to worry about with Mercedes
Renault’s long-standing stint in the midfield of the sport has been dogged with the competitive deficit its power unit had over its rivals.
Throughout the turbo-hybrid era the French manufacturer has been lagging substantially behind the likes of Honda, Ferrari and Mercedes.
In fact, this has also led to customer teams like Red Bull and McLaren cutting ties with it in favor of the other suppliers on the grid.
On the contrary, the Brackley-based team has produced power units that have not only propelled itself but the Woking-based team to a sum total of 10 Constructors’ titles since 2014.
“At every race, I asked [how much our deficit would be],” Briatore added. “This race? Four tenths. This race? 3.5 tenths, This race? Five tenths. And last year in three tenths we had 14 cars.
“At least when I arrive to the race, I will not ask anymore how many tenths we have in disadvantage.
“Nobody is talking about engine anymore. Nobody is talking about gearbox anymore. At least we have two issues we don’t need to care about.”
READ MORE – Alpine confirm Christian Horner talks to buy minority stake
Discussion about this post