Flavio Briatore, who re-joined Team Enstone—currently known as Alpine—earlier this year as a special advisor, seems to have stirred up drama within the squad. Known for his direct and commanding style of leadership, Briatore is reportedly at odds with Pierre Gasly.
Tensions built up during the Mexico City GP when Briatore allegedly reprimanded Gasly in front of team members. It stemmed from the Alpine driver’s habit of arriving late to the circuits, something that tested Briatore’s patience.
As such, Gasly got ‘punished’ by being made to travel to Qatar to test a two-year-old Alpine car, immediately after the Sao Paolo GP got over, per Motorsport Next Gen. While almost every other driver in F1 got to take a vacation with a three-week break until the Las Vegas GP, the Frenchman had to cancel whatever plans he had.
@f1gossipofficial, an Instagram page that documents lives of F1 drivers off track, shared a post made by a fan account on X (formerly Twitter) detailing the incident.
View this post on Instagram.
Part of the post read, “Briatore reportedly reprimanded Pierre during the Mexican GP in front of the entire team! Briatore is increasingly annoyed by Pierre’s tendency to arrive very late on the circuits and may have ‘punished’ Pierre by ordering him to attend a test in Qatar.”
That said, whatever rift Briatore had with Gasly in Mexico did not carry over to Brazil. In what has been a challenging season for the French team, a double podium finish in Sao Paulo was a much-needed breath of fresh air.
Brazil was a welcome high point for Alpine amidst the chaos
Alpine’s season has been a rollercoaster, dominated by lows. However, they gradually began showing signs of improvement, which culminated at Interlagos, where Esteban Ocon secured second place, just ahead of Gasly in third. The team earned 33 points in a single race weekend, taking them to P6 in the Constructors’ Standings from P9.
Off the track, however, there is total chaos. Alpine is struggling with internal conflict after its decision to shut down the powertrains department angered a significant portion of its workforce. Alpine will become a Mercedes customer from 2026 onwards — not something the hardworking employees at Enstone and Vichy wanted to see.
Around 100 Alpine workers protested the decision during the Italian GP, and more than 300 jobs have already been lost. The team’s move to customer engines marks a significant shift from their history of building their own power units.
Alpine also lost Ocon, who will leave for Haas in 2025. Gasly, however, will remain, having signed a multi-year extension earlier this campaign.
