It’s been officially confirmed, Flavio Briatore has returned to Formula 1 to work as an advisor for his former team, Alpine/Renault.
Renault CEO Luca Di Meo has been instrumental in this, seeking out the help of his fellow Italian following a miserable start to the 2024 season for Alpine. They have scored just five points in the first nine rounds — the A524 was overweight and plain slow at the beginning of the campaign. They sit a lowly 8th in the Constructors’ Championship.
The former team principal will be tasked with trying to recruit people to help improve the chassis and aero department at Enstone, alongside helping them regarding the concorde agreement and choosing an engine partner should they decided to go down the customer route, a source has told Pit Debrief.
Briatore is a very divisive figure in Formula One. Part of the Benetton and Renault teams, they won four Drivers’ Championships during his time there. Two with Michael Schumacher (1994 and 1995), and two with Fernando Alonso (2005 and 2006).
For many, however, he is best remembered for crashgate. Nelson Piquet deliberately crashed out of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, helping Fernando Alonso take the win following the Spaniard’s technical issues in Q2 during qualifying the previous day.
Piquet would go on to reveal everything following his sacking from Renault during the 2009 season. Pat Symonds and Briatore were found guilty of involvement in it and departed Renault in September of 2009.
Initially Briatore was banned from motor racing for life. However, that was overturned.
Time will tell if this call for help improves Alpine’s fortunes.
The French team has released a brief statement regarding the announcement:
“BWT Alpine F1 Team can confirm that Flavio Briatore has been appointed by Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo as his Executive Advisor for the Formula One Division.
“Briatore will predominantly focus on top level areas of the team including: scouting top talents and providing insights on the driver market, challenging the existing project by assessing the current structure and advising on some strategic matters within the sport.”
