INTERVIEW: Flavio Briatore vows to put Alpine on the podium

Briatore has stepped into the spotlight after Oliver Oakes, who had only taken on the team principal role at the end of last July, left unexpectedly after the Miami Grand Prix, initially cited as for personal reasons.

It soon emerged that Oakes' brother, William, had been charged with "transferring criminal property," according to the Metropolitan Police, allegedly in his position as a director of Hitech Grand Prix, the renowned racing team founded by Oliver which competes in F2, F3 and F1 Academy.

It is the third time Briatore has taken on the leadership role of the Enstone-based organisation that has been through several guise changes over the years, although he does not bear the mantle of team principal on this occasion despite the fact that, according to Alpine, he is "fully in charge" and has taken on all duties previously held by Oakes.

For administrative purposes, racing director Dave Greenwood has been assigned as team representative.

What has unfolded is another extension of the furore which has swirled around Alpine for many years as team principals have come and gone, the same with other senior staff, and not least the drivers. Let's not forget, after decades of an alliance with Renault, at the end of this year the French manufacturing giant exits F1. Mercedes takes over as power unit supplier.

It is in the hands of Briatore to steady the ship, to steer it clear of the turbulent times behind the scenes which have overshadowed its on-track performance, although in fairness, there has been very little to cheer for quite some time.

Briatore, of course, carries with him notoriety as the architect of the 'Crashgate' saga that engulfed the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in which Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to deliberately crash his car that allowed team-mate Fernando Alonso to clinch victory.

Although subsequently banned by the FIA from all forms of motorsport, Briatore managed to overturn the order in the French courts. He may have been vindicated, but he has been forever tainted by one of the most controversial incidents in F1 history.

Despite being cleared, his time in F1 was done — at that stage anyway. The titles he masterminded, two Drivers' Championships apiece for Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, and Constructors' Championships for Benetton and Renault, speak volumes about the man, albeit silenced to some degree by Crashgate.

So now, almost two decades on since the last of his successes, with Alonso and Renault in 2006, Briatore finds himself charged with resurrecting the fortunes of a once-great team. It was not, however, meant to be this way.

Briatore devoted his time to his food and beverage businesses. F1 was done for him, although he concedes he "had possibilities to come back immediately [after winning the court case], but they weren't right."

Speaking in an interview with this writer for The New York Times, he added: “I wanted to stop anyway, maybe not in that way, but it was time to finish. I’d won seven Championships, and Formula 1 is very demanding.”

An encounter with de Meo led to discussions "a few times, in Paris, in Italy," initially on a consultancy basis. "Nothing like it is now," said Briatore. "It is completely different to what it is now."

Briatore said de Meo was "desperate" to turn around the team's fortunes from a position near the bottom of the Constructors' Championship. "We decided to start working together," said Briatore. "Our agreement was for me to do six, seven races a year, now we're doing 24, and I'm representing the chairman. I'm in charge. This is what I do."

Briatore, respectfully frail in body but seemingly as astute in mind as ever, has made promises to de Meo, most notably that "in two, three years", Alpine will "be on the podium, or very close to the podium."

Such a vow may seem fanciful, but given the change in power unit regulations for next year it cannot be dismissed. Who knows which team will have the upper hand in 2026.

With Mercedes power — a manufacturer rumoured to be in a healthy position with the development of a new system that will run on 50 per cent internal combustion and 50 per cent electrical power, and will no longer possess the MGU-K element — Alpine could fly out of the traps.

Briatore makes no bones about the fact that Renault had to make way for Mercedes. “It was a very hard decision,” he said, “but if you want to compete at the highest level, whatever your business, you need to be at the same pace as everybody else. For the team to compete for victories, for the possibility of becoming World Champions, this was a decision we absolutely needed to take.”

And Briatore is unashamed to say that Alpine can become champions. With the staff changes he has implemented on the technical side, he claims the team is "now 85 per cent complete. We’re still missing key people to make us stronger next year, but I know who they are.”

Could Briatore realistically turn Alpine into Title winners, two decades on from those glory days with Alonso and Renault, and three decades since he guided Schumacher to the first two of his seven Championships at the wheel of a Benetton?

“Why not? Sure," he insisted. "If you see the teams in front of us, they’re nothing special. It’s only people, more committed, less distracted.

“It has not been easy at this team. Hiring people, firing people, no order, no direction, nothing. Everybody was in charge; nobody was in charge. We lost a lot of good people, but now, little by little, they are coming back to us because they believe in us."   

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