BWT Alpine F1 Team Announced on Friday, Flavio Briatore will serve as executive advisor to the struggling organization. Briatore took the lead this same team won multiple championships as team principal before resigning in 2009 over his involvement in the worst race-fixing scandal in the sport’s history. You know what they say about desperate times.
high mountain range currently eighth in the ten-team World Constructors’ Championship, a worrying position for a factory team. Four of the team’s five points were scored in just the last two races. There were rumors that the team was up for sale. While Alpine flatly denies those claims, the team is in talks with other engine manufacturers about becoming customers for the 2026 season and shutting down its own power unit.
Alpine sees Briatore as an experienced person who can help the team overcome difficulties. its precarious position. Based on PlanetF1, Team principal Bruno Famin said at the press conference:
“I don’t really worry about the past, I’m always looking to the future, trying what I can to make my team better,” Famin told media including PlanetF1.com
“That’s really our goal and what I see in having Flavio as an advisor to the team is an opportunity for him to have experience to help us. He has a very high knowledge of Formula 1, he knows a lot of people. I am sure he will assist us in developing the team faster and better.”
Briatore’s past is important to know in this case. In the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, driver Nelson Piquet Jr. of Renault intentionally crashed the car to make it unsafe. The team took advantage of the situation to allow Piquet’s teammate, Fernando Alonso, to make a proper pit stop and win the race. Piquet publicly revealed his crash was ordered by him after he was fired by Renault during the 2009 season.
FIA World Motor Sport Council banned Briatore, Renault’s then team principal, from F1 and all FIA-sanctioned competitions for life. A French court overturn FIA’s lifetime ban for procedural reasons, but Briatore has agreed not to participate in F1 for a while to settle things with the FIA.
Briatore joined F1 from the fashion world in 1990. After helping Benetton expand into the US, he was promoted to head of the fashion brand’s F1 team. In 1991, he lured young Michael Schumacher to the Jordan team. The pair won two championships in 1994 and 1995. The German departed for Ferrari in 1996, taking with him several key staff. Briatore was fired in 1997 when Benetton missed the order.
Renault re-hired Briatore as the French carmaker in 2000. The lightning strike twice occurred when he signed Fernando Alonso as a test driver in 2003. Alonso was promoted to a racing seat in 2003. Then the couple won World championships in 2005 and 2006.
Briatore may have the rare experience of knowing what it takes to win a championship in F1. He was also willing to do it whatever it takes to win, even if it means risking the team’s existence to do so.
