The Renault approach in Formula 1 has always been confusing. Sometimes lacking commitment, occasionally achieving less success than expected, and always unstable, the decision to appoint Flavio Briatore as “executive consultant” is incredibly surprising. What does this say about the culture of the Renault Group, CEO Luca de Meo, and Alpine F1? The fact that they have brought in the mastermind behind the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix scandal as their savior is perplexing.
Briatore has every right to work in motorsport and has been involved in various capacities. It is not a problem that he has worked with F1 itself, and there is no reason why he cannot take a position with one of the other nine teams. It was perfectly acceptable for Pat Symonds, another key figure in the 2008 Singapore incident, to work for Marussia, Williams, and F1. However, Renault’s willingness to appoint Briatore to a position within their F1 team is absurd. Yes, it has been 15 years since the consequences of Singapore in 2008 led to the sale of the team by Renault, but it is still the same team with the same majority ownership.
Make no mistake, this decision was made by De Meo himself. The Alpine press release made it clear that he personally appointed Briatore. The role of consultant is described as involving the driver market, evaluating the current structure, and providing advice on strategic issues.
The issue is not Briatore’s skills. He played a crucial role in the team’s past success, and we should not ignore his positive contributions. In fact, when the team faced leadership turmoil 11 months ago, I argued that they needed someone like Briatore. However, I always emphasized that it could never truly be Briatore.
Interestingly, the current structure that needs to be evaluated was established by Briatore. A fair assessment can divert the focus from Enstone and Viry and highlight the deficiencies of those at the top of Renault, who expect success without investing enough and lack strategic thinking.
This team often concerns itself with appearances, which has led to poor decisions. For example, Nico Hulkenberg’s candidacy for the 2023 driver position was dismissed mainly because he had already been let go before, and it would have been bad to bring him back, instead of considering his merits.
Amid rumors that Alpine is considering ending its engine program and concerns from the group of American investors who recently acquired the team, it would make sense if this appointment were another step towards the eventual disappearance of Renault’s F1 program.
Renault often denies that it is for sale, and they reiterated this to the Enstone team yesterday. We can only hope that this is true for the sake of the team, as they deserve a chance to reach their full potential. There are many talented individuals within the team who have been disappointed by Renault.
The only logical reason to bring Briatore into this position is to facilitate a sale. By separating the Viry team and making it a separate entity that can be easily sold, Renault can potentially include its unimpressive Alpine car brand in the deal. Briatore is highly skilled in business matters and would likely be effective in facilitating such a sale, even if the entity is supposedly not for sale.
However, there are other people who could play this role. One of the reasons given for this appointment was to provide greater support to the team leader, Bruno Famin, who works tirelessly but may be overwhelmed. Maybe that’s all. But once again, it was De Meo who initiated the leadership changes last year, so if they are not proving effective, it raises significant questions about Renault’s strategy.
There is a sense of decline surrounding the Alpine team within the F1 community in general, and Renault’s credibility in F1 has been further eroded with this latest move.
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