Flavio Briatore is back in F1 and has not faced the best of welcomes, courtesy of the negative reputation and history he has due to the infamous Crashgate scandal. However, he is back with his “modest” self and will take charge as the Executive Director at Alpine, a team in utter disarray in 2024. Briatore thinks that recovering Alpine from their struggles currently is a task cut out for him.
Speaking with Canal+ about his return, the Italian stated as quoted by Autosport, “The only part [Alpine is lacking in] is F1, and I think I’m a genius in F1”. Briatore has previously worked with the Enstone-based outfit during its Renault era back in the 2000s.
Modest as ever from Flavio Briatore
Is he the person Alpine really needs to return to the front of #F1?#SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/IP1dRpxuoC
— Autosport (@autosport) June 23, 2024
In fact, he was the team principal when Renault won the 2005 and 2006 championships. Thus, Briatore’s claim of knowing what it takes to win in F1 is very much valid. Besides, all that knowledge of the team’s culture previously and how the French team used to function will come in handy despite its new avatar.
Alpine has faced a lot of key personnel turnover in the past 12 months. They got rid of CEO Laurent Rossi as well as team principal Otmar Szanauer midway into the 2023 season. Even Pat Fry took the exit door, and long-term sporting director Alan Permane also got the pink slip.
On top of that, the Enstone outfit lost key technical talent in Matt Harman and Dirk de Beer before the 2024 season got going. Thus, Alpine are in dire need of a sharp and experienced mind like Briatore.
Time will tell if the former Renault boss can weave his magic to get the team out of the doldrums. However, his old crimes would certainly linger on as the background context as he settles back into F1.
Flavio Briatore’s history of triumph and controversy in F1
Flavio Briatore entered F1 as the commercial director of the Benetton F1 team, which is operating as Alpine right now. After the Benetton group bought Toleman in the 80s, they wanted Briatore to turn it into a competitive and winning team in the 90s.
Briatore got on with the job by hiring key technical talent like John Barnard and led them to winning the 1994 and 1995 championships. He was also instrumental in bringing Fernando Alonso to the French team from Minardi and promoted him to the race seat in 2003, which turned out to be a masterstroke.
He’s fabulously well-connected, well-liked and the ultimate hustler. In short, exactly what a spiralling #F1 team like Alpine needs
So despite the black mark of Crashgate, the team has hired Flavio Briatore. It’s just how F1 works, says Damien Smith: https://t.co/XMc1f0t93t pic.twitter.com/b2K9qDOoQy
— Motor Sport magazine (@Motor_Sport) June 21, 2024
Alonso delivered wins and poles right from the word go and won the 2005 and 2006 championships for Renault. It was Briatore and Alonso ruling the F1 world during that period. However, three years later, things took a turn for the worse during Alonso’s second stint with the Italian boss and Renault.
At the 2008 Singapore GP, Briatore supposedly orchestrated a crash with his other driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to help Alonso win the race. It was a big controversy as the Renault boss got a ban from F1, which was lifted later. Yet, Briatore could not make a return to the sport due to the negative image he developed, owing to Crashgate, until recently.
